“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27

     John 10:27, God speaking, He says He knows His sheep. But also, His sheep know Him and they follow Him.

    When you receive a phone call from a close friend or relative, how do you know it’s them? You know because you KNOW them and you know their voice. Even if someone is impersonating them, you would probably be able to tell it isn’t them.

    Same with God. The more we get to KNOW Him, the better we’ll be able to hear Him and know it’s Him speaking.

    I led a Bible Study quite some time ago with a “new” Christian attending. She said “I keep hearing you all say ‘I heard God say…’ or ‘God spoke to me…’. I don’t understand how you hear God.” After several months of reading the Bible, attending Church and learning to pray, she understood that to hear from God requires a relationship with Him.

    Are you ‘tuned in’? Even though I consider myself a fairly good listener, I do struggle with listening to God. I hear better when it’s an audible voice and even then I can “tune it out” (selective hearing?). God can speak audibly, either Himself or through others, but we have to be ‘tuned in’ to know it’s Him.

    Do you take the time to listen? I can pray, I can read Christian books and the Bible, I can listen to inspirational speakers, but I often don’t take the time to just sit and listen. And throughout my day, I get busy thinking about what I need to do and focusing on what I am doing that I don’t listen.

    Do you want to hear what God has to tell you? Maybe there’s something He wants you to change or you are asking Him for an answer or for guidance. We reason, we analyze, we overthink or just plain rebel and want things our way instead of listening to what God wants. Selective Hearing?

    There are many ways that God speaks to us (through prayer, reading the Bible, or through other believers) but we have to turn off our selective hearing and be tuned in to what He is saying to us.