Recognizing God's Voice

I Sam. 3:9  So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, “Yes, LORD, your servant is listening.”  So Samuel went back to bed.

Samuel was living with the prophet Eli.  One night the Lord had called out to Samuel, but he did not know it was the Lord calling him.  Samuel thought it was Eli and had gone to him to find out what he wanted.  After the third time, Eli knew that it was the Lord calling Samuel.  It was then that he gave Samuel the instructions in today’s verse.

Can you hear the Lord calling you?  Are you so connected to the Lord that you recognize His voice when He is calling you?  If you can’t recognize His voice, how do you know when He is calling you?  I wonder, how many calls have you missed?

The Lord calls us to Himself for instruction and guidance in life.  He calls us to certain tasks in life.  He calls those who are listening to hear His voice.  There are so many voices out there calling us and vying for our attention.  In order to be sure it is the Lord we are listening to, there are certain things we must do.

We must be willing to get away from the many activities of life and spend time alone with Him.  We must find a time and place where we can be all alone with the Lord and focus on Him.  You must be deliberate about this.  Daily we must make a commitment to spend time in our meeting place with God.  If you have to readjust your schedule so that you can do it, then do it.  You will never know the voice of God unless you spend quality time alone with Him.  If you are too busy to spend quality time with the Lord, your priorities are all messed up.

You must open your Bible, read it and meditate on it.  You must be open to what the Lord says to you in it.  You must ask the Lord to give you fresh truths to chew on.  You must read the Word with the intent of applying it to your life.

You must spend time in praying talking and listening to God.  There is no subject that is off limits when talking to the Lord.  The Lord wants you to talk about everything on your heart.  He already knows about it, but it’s important for our sake for us to express it.  Carrying on a conversation with God requires time and we can’t rush through it.

God does not confuse us.  When we put ourselves into a position where we can hear the voice of God, we will hear and know that it is Him who is speaking to us.