Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
Romans 10:17
The Scripture teaches us that as sheep we are able to hear God’s voice. This means that He is already speaking, but the recognition of His voice is what takes time and relationship.
This past weekend, a few of the LifeSpring families went to Blue Mountain. As we watched the children run around and play, I saw little Zeke up in one of the play areas running with all his might. I called up to get his attention to encourage him, I called out his name over and over, “ZEKE! ZEKE!” He did not notice a thing. A moment later, his mother, Kayla, came and stood beside me. She looked up where Zeke was and called out his name, “Zeke”! Immediately his head popped up and looked down right at us. Same location, same volume, different voice. Zeke could recognize his mother’s voice, but he did not recognize mine. He recognized his mother’s voice because of years of mommy speaking and singing over her son.
In the same way, our spiritual ears take time to recognize Father God. He speaks to us over and over first and foremost with the Word of God (the Bible). As we read, listen, study, share with one another, encourage one another, get prophetic words, as we keep hearing about God, we are learning to tune ourselves into recognizing His voice in our lives.
You may not be able to hear a specific word from the Lord yet. That’s ok. The promises of God are His voice – my own children learned to recognize my voice not by conversation or deep thought. My children learned my voice because I would hold them close and keep repeating, “I love you”, “You are so cute”, “Daddy is so proud of you”. Truths, statements, promises I speak over them as they learn to hear and recognize my voice.
God speaks to us in the same way – especially when we can’t fully recognize Him yet. His promises is His voice. His word teaches us that He will never leave you nor forsake you. He knows the hairs on your head. He loves you. You are His son. He can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. That is His voice, those are His words, those are His promises to you.
As we begin to recognize His voice, we begin to find Him speaking to us directly. We call that the Rhema word of God. When God speaks directly to you. It is when the Word becomes alive and active and another step in maturity.
The Scripture teaches us that faith comes from hearing – wherever you are in your walk with the Lord – it starts here. You can hear the Lord. You may not know it, but your spirit is slowly learning to recognize Him. If you ever sense the Lord saying that He loves you, just know, that is definitely Him!