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

Have you ever wondered why God spoke to the characters of the Old Testament but seems so silent today? 

Have you ever longed to hear Him? To have Him speak to you—directly? Do you ever wish He could just give you a call and answer your questions or counsel you on life? 

In a way, He can. 

If there was one lesson that I believe to have been the most instrumental my life, this is it. 

You can hear from the Lord and He desires to speak to you directly. Practicing that lesson has been my lifeline in my faith. 

I truly believe it has made me stand strong in may own personal faith instead of ride the coat tails of those in authority around me. 

I believe it has made me cling to the Savior over lesser things. 

I believe it has made me believe in Jesus in a way that was hard for “church hurt”, leadership disappointment, or wrong theology to shake. 

Here’s why….when you experience Jesus, on a fairly regular basis, it’s difficult to believe lies about Him. 

Let me give one example…there was a certain theological question that I had that led me to question everything I believed in my heart about God. But, I prayed and told the Lord that if I found Biblical basis against my beliefs about the nature of God, I would believe it—no matter how difficult. 

One night, I thought I had found that Biblical basis and it shook me to my core. I felt shocked and betrayed. I felt confused and distraught about the implications for my faith and life. However, as I prayed through some of these emotions, I felt God whisper to my heart… “it’s okay. It’s not true”. 

A short while later, I recalled a book I had held onto for years. I had been meaning to read it since 2014 but never got around to it. Then, I picked it up and could barely set it down again. It systematically answered my questions and gave me the Biblical basis for my original beliefs in the nature of God—directly contradicting my initial findings. 

What a mercy. But, it made me wonder….what if I hadn’t learned to hear from the Lord. What if I simply ran with the first narrative. What if I could be so easily swayed based upon a convincing teacher of the Word. What then could anchor me? 

This both made me praise God for the gift of the Spirit but it also grieved me. I grieved for those who have yet to tap into this beautiful relationship with the Spirit. 

If the only thing that anchors your faith is the Word of God, and someone seems to have a solid argument against a chore tenant of our theology…how terrifying to not see a way forward. 

Believe me, I’ve been there before and have had the initial shock of questioning everything…but that still small voice has always called me back and grounded my faith. 

My greatest wish is for more Christians to learn to hear the Spirit this way. I am in no way “gifted” for knowing this. I was taught and I practiced. I still need practice to this day—I will always be growing in this area. 

So, if you wish to know how to hear your Father, to be the sheep that know His voice and follow Him—keep reading. I will do my best to walk through my personal experiences hearing from the Lord, how you can practice listening to Him, why this is not a dangerous practice, and ways I believe it is instrumental for our faith as believers. 

I hope you are willing to grow. It may just change you forever—it changed me.