How Do You Know When God Speaks?

Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. Hey, you know what? I've noticed something as I get older. My ears are getting bigger. But is my hearing better? No, my hearing's not getting better. You would think it would. Well, what about hearing God in the heart? What about being led by God in life? Let's find out how that works. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now, open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. I tell you, maybe you don't know this, but being with the podcast audience, what we do here with you together, it's a very small group of people. I wish you could kind of see where I'm at. It's about 12 by 12, maybe 12 by 14 feet. That's all it is. And we're just tucked in the corner off from the real life network studios off in a corner. It's a little makeshift operation. But I love what I love about it is the organics. This is something that I get to be myself the most, which it doesn't mean that I'm not myself and other settings. It's just that there's not the pressure and there's not the camera crew and the dynamics and the whole that stuff. So I just really want to thank you for allowing us to be as it were in your living room as the old school comment used to be. So thank you for allowing us into your life. We're going to be talking today about hearing God's voice, how to hear God's voice, how do I know if I'm being led by this spirit of God? So for example, throughout scripture, I'll just paraphrase for time say throughout scripture, the Lord spoke to Abraham and said Abraham Abraham. The Lord spoke to Moses out of a burning bush, right? And the Lord spoke to Elijah when he was running from Jezebel. And when he spoke, it wasn't in the earthquake, it wasn't in the fire, it wasn't in the wind, but it was a still small voice. That is a good indicator in the direction that we're going today. Then we have the Lord Himself in flesh, in the gospel accounts, and you have Jesus speaking. And of course, he being God has the same tenor, the same tone, and the same structure in the way he speaks. And what does he say? He says things like this. And the Lord said unto him, Peter, Peter, or Martha, Martha, right? And why is there the repeat? Why do we complicate the hearing of God's voice so much? Well, for one thing, I really love when the Lord says Abraham Abraham. Some people have joked around and said that that's how you have to talk to a man. You have to call him twice because he's not listening. Well, that's cute. And it is true. But he did it to Martha as well as others. The point is this, when God speaks, how do you know? So what has brought Genesis to this podcast today is actually earlier today, I was on a phone and I had someone tell me that they were making a decision, they were going in a direction, and they had a really good feeling about it. And I thought the decision that's being made is too clinical of a decision. It's too analytical of a decision to bring that. You don't know the setting, but it was a high tech setting. And it was the regard, it was regarding bringing on individuals. And listen, we can get so caught up in speaking christianese that can you imagine, think about this, can you imagine a SpaceX strapping people into the rocket for launch? And mission control turns and says, you know, torrents, do we have a green light? That's one of their launch facilities. Vandenberg, are we ready to go? Can you imagine if those who are in charge said, we've got a really good feeling about this. You think you think you would light that rocket with people in it? Absolutely not. So when we talk about God's voice, are we actually that alone? I'm being sarcastic right now. Are we so adrift as believers in the 21st century that we we think that's what the Lord is calling us to do? Or we feel like it. I've talked to a bunch of people. They feel like it. Friends, listen, we need to apply the scriptures to our lives and the characteristic of God as he uses his scripture. Number one thing is that when God speaks to you, he will speak to you the word of God almost always in every situation. Now it is a fact that God can choose to speak to anyone anywhere at any time as he so chooses. He is God any sovereign. God can right now speak to an aborigini in the jungles or in the woodlands or in the fields. He can just speak to them. He could speak to someone who's in the Amazon who's never seen a white man who's running around with his spare and he's got his little gourd on, his little underwear and he's hunting snakes and lizards and monkeys. God can speak to that man, that woman, those kids. Anyway, he wants and he does, according to Romans chapter one, but know this. Number one, always God will never, never, ever contradict his word when he speaks. That's how we know it's him speaking because God is true and he will not contradict himself. In fact, it's Psalm 138 that says that he esteems his word above his own name. So let me read you a verse and let's unpack that about hearing God's voice, discerning God's voice, being led by the spirit of God. We need this now, friends, more than ever before. Psalm 23 verse 1 says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters, the leading of the Lord. You see, yeah, but David said that 3,000 years ago. True, but God never changes and we've got more of the Bible now available to us than David ever had. So he leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Think about that for a second. And so what's very important about that is as he speaks to us, we are being directed by him and we're being moved by him into what he wants us to do. And so God will use his word. So how do we know that we're being led by God? He's going to lead us according to the scripture. And so it presupposes that you and I read the Bible. We read the word and this is probably the number one area where Christians cause themselves to be anemic on a daily basis. Is that he we neglected to get into the Word of God because we're in a hurry. We've got a bagel in our mouth. We've got the coffee in our coat and we're car keys and we're running out and we didn't consult the Lord in the morning. And then we wonder why the day has been so tough. And it's going to be tough, my friends, if you don't make him the priority for the day, because that's how you're going to be led by him. And then let's listen. Let's make sure we get this. We must have our ear trained to hear him. Let's listen to this Psalm 32 verses 6 through 8. For this cause everyone who was godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found. Wow, that's powerful. Surely in a flood of great waters, they shall not come near him. You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Listen to all of this is gorgeous. Isn't it? Verse 8 says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go. I will guide you with my eye. Psalm 32 verses 6 through 8. What a tremendous promise that is. So this is the Lord saying, you consult me. I'm going to lead you and guide you. So how does that happen? So we get up in the morning and it seems so random, doesn't it? Even if we have a our daily Bible reading that we're going through on a daily basis, or maybe you just say in the morning, I'm going to pick up, I'm going to read right out of Romans chapter 1 or first Corinthians or second chronicles. And you just start reading and you may think, watch this. I have to be honest with you. This is how often works in my life to be very transparent with you is I go through my wife and I Lisa, we go through the one year Bible together. And then privately, I'm doing my own reading. And for me personally, I might read I might read three chapters or I might read three verses. I don't have a set routine. And so as I'm reading, for example, I'm in the book of Acts and I'm reading and I read seven verses. And something catches my eye or my ear about it. And so I'm thinking about it. And I actually do what I'm acting out though, you know, right now for you to better comprehend what I'm talking about is I'll actually just sit my Bible down and I'm just pause. And I'm thinking and about what I just read. I might look out the window or I might just close my eyes. And I might say, Lord, I stopped at verse six right now because I don't understand it or what was that like when that went on or that happened or Lord, there's stuff going on in my life. I think there might be a I think there might be a gem. Here's somewhere in this passage or verse. Lord, if any of this I'm reading today who you know all things, it's not a coincidence. Is there something here that you want me to know about either regarding the issues I'm involved in or what's going to happen today? Now here's what's fun about it. Lord, only you know. So I'm asking you to cause my ear to be attentive to you as I live out my day before you. I'm going to get up now. I've got lots to do. Please interrupt me any time you want. But when you speak, please don't let me miss it. Don't let me be too busy. Please make my heart sensitive, connect it to my ears that I might hear you when you speak because I want to be led by you. So off we go, right? And we're busy and we're driving, commuting, working, reading, studying, media or shopping or it doesn't matter day off, day on. It doesn't matter. Whatever is going on. I love this. He's so faithful in my life and he'll do the same to you that I could be with Lisa on one of our days off together. And I'm helping her. I seem like I spend a lot of my time with what we call returns. Is this a day that we do returns? These are returns for clothes returns for stuff and we go to the mall and I'm I'm the I'm the donkey. And I'm happy to be the donkey. I'm carrying the stuff and we just we're going to these stores and I actually love it. As long as I'm with her, it's great. I don't care what we're doing. It's great. And we'll, you know, live our day and out of nowhere where I'm not even dial. I'm not even focused on God. I'm looking, you know, I don't know how your malls are, but here in Southern California, you go through the mall and there's there's Tesla stores with cars in them inside the mall. And I'm looking and there's the Tesla truck and it's like, wow, that thing looks crazy. That thing's wild. And out of nowhere, the the the verse comes to my mind instantly. It has nothing to do with Tesla. But the verse that he brings to my attention is that when I was reading the book of Acts, he had mentioned the power that you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And what triggered it in my particular moment? I'm looking at all these Tesla batteries on the wall and they're showing you how they work. And then the the the sign says, you know, connect to power. And boom, God brings up the verse. And now I'm not even aware that I'm standing in front of a Tesla store. I'm now standing in the mall looking totally normal. And here's this mere little human having a moment with the eternal God about if God consent or if if Tesla consent power to a battery to a car so that you can get up and go and drive all over the place, then my God can send power to me so that I can get up and go and do and be all over the place. It's not my power. It's got to be done in his power. It's not by power nor by might, but by my spirit say at the Lord Zechariah 46, oh my goodness, Lord, that makes sense. This vehicle is dead in this mall because that's that's all that's required of it. It's just to look frankly strange. I mean, the Tesla truck looks weird, but that's what it is. And it's useless until it's powered up. Guess what? I'm useless until I'm powered up. A woman last night after church said, I don't know how you do it. You're with thousands of people every morning at 5 a.m. That's true on a national prayer, international, a FaceTime prayer gathering. That's true. But then maybe my last post will be at 10 or 11 at night, the night before that's true. And with all the stuff that's going on, I don't know how you do it. And I told her, I said, listen, don't don't think that that I'm this superhuman. I'm not. I said, what you don't know is how often I'm on the verge of absolute exhaustion. She goes, but I don't see you like that. And I said, that's because God will give me the strength to do what he wants me to do. And when he's done with me, I'm worthless. I mean, I've got to crash. The power was provided for the moment when God needed. All this comes out of my what's seemed to be almost directionalists reading time of my day. I heard from the Lord. It inspired me. And so it caused me to think differently. And then when that woman last night asked me what she did or made the comment about my energy, I left. I said, if you only knew how weak I am. And I got to just thinking, you know what? Thank you, Lord. You're awesome. You're just amazing. So listen, write this one down too, if you would. It's Proverbs chapter three verses five and six, such a famous passage. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. And lean not on your own understanding. And all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. That's beautiful. Is it not? So number one, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Warning, line two, do not lean on your own understanding. This is where you and I as humans always, always get messed up. We think we understand the situation so much that we know the answer. Do we really? We think we know what's going on. So we make a comment about it. Do we really? We think and we can conclude that this is what must be what's happening in the world around me. Are you sure? You see what happens? We make assumptions based upon our feelings, rather than what the Word of God says and the Word of God says for us to trust in the Lord with all of our heart. Don't lean on your own understanding. But in all your ways acknowledge him, seek him, wait upon him, get to his Word, consult with him. Conclusion, he will direct your paths. So I'm going to say something very, very difficult to hear. It's difficult to say. It's probably difficult for me to explain. If I practiced just Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, if I just practiced that and made it a rule of my life, memorized it, made it a rule of my life, put it around my home and office. Do I have to make mistakes? If I have that embedded in my soul, that passage, do I have to make mistakes? You say, what do you mean? Are you saying that you're not a sinner? Oh, no, no, no. We all sin in thought, indeed. We all sin daily. We don't mean too, but we do. That's the way it is. I'm talking about decision-making. Decision-making is not a sin unless you decide on doing sin. Decision-making is not a sin unless you decide things without God. But if you today say, I'm not going to make any more decisions unless I hear from the Lord, I want you to know that you are going to wind up not making a mistake. As long as you keep yourself out of the conclusion, you're going to do well. Let God speak to you, and here's, watch, I'll live out the problem with you. Well, that's great, Jack, but I got to answer that guy in 20 minutes. Do you now? Right? All of us get that pressure. You know, listen, here's the deal, but you got to call us back in 10 minutes. Do you feel pressured? Then don't call them back. Or call them immediately and say, listen, are you serious about 10 minutes? Because I'm a Christian, I got to pray about this. Really? Oh, yeah, if you don't come down and buy that car, there's a family coming down right now to buy it. If you don't get it now, you're going to lose the deal on that car. I tell you what, buddy, then go sell it to that other family because I am not going to be pressured like that. Friends, what I'm telling you right now is how I conduct my life. And I can tell you that from buying a car or making a decision to meet with somebody or do something or when somebody calls and says, you know what? You need to respond to this media request, Pastor Jack, they want you on at this time or they're going to get somebody else. Well, what time is it? It's 5 a.m. No, 5 a.m. Can't do it. I'm with my international prayer group at 5 a.m. live together. Can't do it. Really? You're going to turn down a New York interview, syndicated across the United States. There'll be a couple of million people watching. It's a no-brainer for me. That 5 a.m. slot in my life is already filled with a community of believers in prayer. You say, well, can't you fudge it a little bit? Listen, how do I know if God's it or not if I fudge it? How about if I stick to what God has established in my life and just simply let them know? Can't do it at five between five and five 15. I can't do it. You can do it at five 30. Can do it at five 20. I can do it at six. I can do it at four a.m. Pacific time. But I can't do it at five. You will find a pattern of hearing from God that is just going to delight your heart. And so when somebody says anything about any decision you have to make, be still and know that he is God and he will be exalted in that issue. That's Psalm 46 verse 10. So John chapter 10 verse 26 and 27. By the way, I ran through that first one really quick. I mean, the previous one, Psalm 46 verse 10. Life verse memorizes great. So John chapter 10 verse 26 and 27. But you do not but you do not believe Jesus said because you are not my sheep. As I said to you, my sheep hear my voice. I love it. I know them and they follow me. Wow. What's what's one of the hallmarks of being a believer of being a Christian is that you hear the voice of Jesus Christ. You can hear him. How are you going to hear him? How are you going to how are you going to know that you're hearing the voice of Jesus? The word when the Bible when Jesus says you're not you're not any you're not mine because you don't hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me to hear the voice of Jesus Christ is to hear the word of God. Notice this. The word of God that Jesus spoke is the word of God on your lap or on your table. Is it not? It's awesome. Beautifully wonderfully. Jesus says, Hey, here's what's up. My sheep know my voice. They'll follow me. People who can't hear my voice. They're not my sheep. It's so simple. Listen, if there's any pastors out there watching this right now, let me give you a little tip. Make you relax. I'll preface it by saying this. Billy Graham, somebody asked Billy Graham, how do you know when you when you're preaching out of crusade, if anybody's going to come forward? Isn't that making nervous if nobody gets up to come forward? You know what Billy Graham's answer was? He said, I am not responsible for the decision people make. I give the truth of the word of God and I know that listen, this is so wise. If I give the truth of God's word, some people will decide yes and some people will decide no, but decisions will be made. That's set me free. Pastor, listen up, evangelist, listen up. You are only, I am only commissioned to give them the word of God, the crowd on the street or in the church. Give them the word of God and let him speak to them about what he wants in their life. We, if there was ever truly a middleman, that's the evangelist, that's the pastor teacher. We are the middleman in the whole thing. Our job is to introduce the word of God to them and he does the rest. And if they don't decide for Jesus, if they don't get up and come forward to accept Christ, that's not your problem. But know this, if one person gets up and comes, it's not your problem either. You don't save that person. God is using the word the Bible that you gave and speaks to the guy and the guy gets up in response to Jesus and accepts Christ as Lord and Savior. I had very little to do with it. It's amazing. Last night I was reading The Light and the glory by Peter Marshall and David Emanuel. And George Whitfield was preaching in the colonies in America. And later on Whitfield was seen out in public. He was eating or something and it was in Boston. Ben Franklin was with him. And this man came up to George Whitfield and said, listen, said, Mr. Whitfield, I want you to know that you converted me last year at one of your gatherings. And George Whitfield said, are you drunk? And he said, maybe I've had a little bit to drink. And George Whitfield said, well, you must be my convert because if you were Jesus' convert, you wouldn't be drunk right now. Isn't that a great word? We don't convert people. We just give them the word. And Whitfield wrapped that up perfectly. If we try to convert people, they're not going to be converted. If we give them the word of God, Jesus is my sheep, hear my voice, and they'll follow me. You want to grow a church? Give the people the word of God. And you'll hear the voice of God. Romans 12 versus 1 and 2. We all know this is wonderful. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God that you present your body's living sacrifice is holding acceptable to God, which is your readable service. The word service is reasonable worship, right? Amazing. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Wow, that's perfect. It's beautiful. Know the will of God. How can I know that? The Bible is the will of God. When you read this book, the Bible, you are reading the will of God. It's that simple. It's that clear. And almost done here, James 1 versus 5 through 8. If any one of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives all liberally and without reproach. And it will be given to you, given to you, but let him ask in faith, right? Without doubting. For he who doubts is like the wave of the sea driven or tossed by the wind and let him not suppose or let not this man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord for a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. When you speak to God in prayer, expect God to answer you back. This is quite possibly one of the great tragedies of our modern-day Christianity. Is this? When we're in a hurry, we rob ourselves. We rob ourselves worse than a guy who's got a knife or a gun and demands our wallet. That's easy. We rob ourselves so much worse when we do not give God what's due to him, time, time. Some of you might say, I have all the time in the world. Okay? Now you're responsible to give all that time in the world to the Lord. Some of you might say, I don't have any time. Well, you do have some time. We all have some time. But let's say you don't watch. Let's say you don't have time. Technically, you really do. Because you take the time to eat, you take the time to take a phone call, you take the time to drive, right? We all have time, no matter who you are. Think of some of the most busiest people in the world. I've got friends in the White House and they all have, by the way, it's the same way with Trump's first administration as now. And that is the White House never sleeps. And a lot of people cannot figure out when Donald Trump sleeps. They can't figure it out. I was talking to quite a while back to Sebastian Gorka and he said, we can't figure out when Trump goes to bed. He's walking the halls of the White House working when people go to sleep, he said. And when they wake up and get back to the office, Trump is still working. A friend of mine had a meeting with Trump at 330 in the morning the other day because the White House is open for business. But listen, you would think who's, you're, you and I are not busier than Trump. I don't think we're busier than Elon Musk. I don't think we're busier than crazy man, George Soros who's trying to blow up the world, right? Think about it. There's time. And even if there's not time, we have to make time. So very important. Why? Because we need to hear the word of God and be led by the Spirit of God. We have to cultivate an ear. Think about your heart having an ear on it so that we would hear from him the word of God to our heart that we would follow him and obey him and all things. It's called being a disciple, being a disciple. Well, listen, God bless you guys and remember it's, it's so vitally important that you cultivate a walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and all that you do. There's never been a better time than be a follower of Jesus as this world begins to shake and become more difficult to maneuver and navigate. You need Jesus all the more and you need the word of God all the more. So please go to a Bible teaching church that really teaches the Bible. If you can't find one, drive to one. There's one within, look, people come here two hour drives, three hour drives. If you've got to find a church somewhere in upstate New York and you got to drive three hours there or in Atlanta or Seattle, then make the drive. Do it. But by all means, get to a Bible teaching church. Until next time, God bless you guys. This Jack Hibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listener supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.