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Jul 19, 2021 08:00am

Are You Missing What God is Saying?

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As I write this, I have just reached my year and a half mark with hearing aids. And I’ve just about gotten over the self-conscience part where I hope no one notices. A major step in that direction happened recently when my wife mentioned something to our adult son about my hearing aids. When she did, he responded with a surprised look and said that he didn’t even know that I had them. So I have been around him every week for 18 months and he never noticed my hearing aids.

That was a moment to celebrate!

And celebrate we did. The neighbors all shot fireworks and it was unbelievable. You cannot imagine how pumped up I was. I was dancing around to the rhythm of Kool & The Gang singing “Celebration” in my head. I was smiling from ear to ear and waving at the neighbors like a winning politician on election night.

Then someone had to yell “Happy 4^th”and spoil it all.

What a bunch of losers!

The biggest revelation from having hearing aids is that I now realize there are things that I was not hearing before. Things that I didn’t even realize I was not hearing.

I mean, if you can’t hear certain things, you have no realization that you can’t hear them. You just walk around oblivious to it all and wonder why everyone around you seems to get so irritated with you.

What a bunch of losers!

It is kind of like the experience I had when I came to a genuine faith and relationship with Christ. I had no idea of what I had been missing. I was oblivious to the joy and benefits that it could bring. I had heard preachers talk about it, but I had not ever experienced it.

And it is impossible to understand those joys and benefits without experiencing them yourself. It cannot be adequately described.

One of the great joys and benefits of that relationship is that you can actually hear God speaking to you. It takes a little attention and effort. And it takes a little getting used to.

It may feel a little weird. I mean, is it really possible that the Creator of the universe would actually talk to you?

Yep.

THE VOICE

It probably won’t be in an audible voice like you would hear a person speaking to you, although it could be. At the risk of you thinking that I’m a crackpot, I share with you that I experienced the audible voice of God three times in one week about 15 years ago. It had never happened before, and it has never happened since. But it did happen.

And yes, it was frightening.

While God can speak to any of us in any way He pleases, there are some specific ways that we can position ourselves to hear what He is saying. I think He is speaking to each of us every day. But we cannot possibly know that, let alone know what He is saying, if we cannot hear Him.

And I think there is one specific avenue that is the foundational building block to our hearing God. I think that it applies to each and every one of us without exception. So whether you have a relationship with God through faith in Christ or whether you have doubts of whether God really even exists, I think that you owe it to yourself to explore the possibility of hearing from God. Could there be something you are missing that you don’t even know that you are missing?

So why not accept a risk-free, no obligation trial offer to see if God will speak to you personally through this cornerstone of His communication methods:

THE BIBLE

Maybe you already hear God speaking to you through the words of the Bible. If so, that’s great but I have one question for you—What are you doing to help others learn to hear that for themselves also?

Or maybe you find the Bible too overwhelming for you to comprehend. Join the club. There are a lot of us that feel that way. But once we understand that the overriding purpose of the Old Testament is to make us realize that we are in need of a Savior, we have made a major step.

And then when we understand that the overriding purpose of the New Testament is to show us that Jesus is that Savior, we have indeed heard the overarching message that God has for all of us. Then it’s up to each of us what we do with what we have heard.

But maybe you are wanting something a little more specific to you personally. First of all, let me take a little pressure off of you. It is God’s job to reveal what He wants you to hear from the Bible. It is only your responsibility to cooperate and give Him a chance to do that,

So how do you cooperate and give God a chance to speak to you through the Bible. I don’t have a failsafe formula and I don’t know anyone who does. But I can share what works for me.

It only requires a Bible, a highlighter, and a little time. It goes like this:

1. Get an easy-to-read Bible translation.

2. Read one chapter per day (I recommend starting with John).

3. Highlight at least one verse that seems to stand out to you that day.

4. Ask God what He wants you to know about that specific verse (even if you are not sure about God).

5. Give Him a few minutes – through prayer – to bring some revelation to your mind about that verse.

He might give you some insight right away. Or it could come days later or maybe not at all. But that is not your problem. Your responsibility is to give Him the opportunity. And to not give up. I promise if you will keep providing Him the opportunity to speak to you through the Bible, it will eventually begin to happen.

When it does, you’ll finally realize what you’ve been missing. And it’ll be a time for celebration.

I can almost hear Kool & the Gang warming up right now!

“KEEP ON SEEKING AND YOU WILL FIND.” (Matthew 7:7)