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the voice of god

FULLY DEVOTED | WEEK 3

WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | WEEK 3 | WEEK 4 | WEEK 5

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Read the devotional.
2. Answer the reflection questions.
3. Read + Engage in the “Devoted Practices.”

DEVOTIONAL

Talk less.
Listen more.

Sometimes less is more, right?
Often more is actually more, for example, more cookies means more calories; unfortunately that’s the way it works. However, when it comes to being able to hear, discern, and respond to the voice of God…then yeah, for sure, talk less and listen more. 

I want you to consider this concept of the voice of God. If you follow Jesus then I’m sure you desire to be fully devoted to what the voice of God says! The concept or reality or presence of the voice of God is at times a difficult thing to describe and even understand. There are many ways to describe the voice of God. For example, in the beginning the voice of God in Genesis chapter one initiates each progression of creation with the words, “And God said, let there be… “ and poof! Creation was born. 

That’s the powerful voice. 

Or maybe we should talk about the voice of God that speaks to us in unusual ways like the time God spoke through a donkey. Remember that one in Numbers 22:28, The the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you…?” So, that example of the voice of God is sort of…uh…different. Yet, think about all the times you felt like God spoke to you through an unusual or unexpected way. 

That’s the creative voice. 

And then there’s the voice of God like the one Elijah experienced in 1 Kings 19. Elijah is on Mt. Horeb and the Lord speaks to him in what is described as a gentle whisper. Verse 13 says, “When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he covered his face with his cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, “So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?” 

That’s the gentle voice.

Let’s not forget how Jesus described his own voice in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” 

That’s the guiding voice.

Or what about the bible! That’s another form of God’s voice. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

That’s the voice of truth. 

Ultimately, God sent us the Holy Spirit to be his voice. John 14:26 says, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 

That’s the 
e v e r y t h i n g 
else voice. 

The voice of God comes in many forms, but all with the purpose to help, counsel, speak love, and lead you to become the person God has created you to be! His voice is one of those more is more situations. More of his voice equals more of his ways, more of his goodness, and more of his love!

It’s no secret that the world is full of competing voices. Here are five other voices you are likely to listen to:
1. voice of comparison
2. voice of complaining
3. voice of gossip
4. voice of pride/selfishness
5. voice of distractions.

We are continually allowing those voices to influence and lead us. For example, what happens when you have a few free minutes in your day? Many of us listen to the voice of distraction telling us to pick up our phone and fill the margins and free time of our day immersing ourselves in distraction. Americans spend on average 5.4 hours a day on our phone! That’s absurd!

So the question is, how do we truly hear God’s voice in our noisy world of competing voices? How do we know that the things we are thinking are really the things he is saying? I’ve heard this type of question many times and there seems to be one clear answer — listen more. 

You. Must. Get. Better. At. Listening. 

Ask yourself, are you really taking time to listen to God? For example, do you ask God questions or do make requests? Do you make room to hear what he is saying or do you typically want him to respond to the things you are needing? I only ask this because what if he wants to say something to you that isn’t related to the things you’re thinking or praying about? What if it’s not in the same lane of the things you’re currently doing? Would you even have the ability to hear it? We tend to only pay attention to what we want to hear or what’s right in front of us.

Perhaps the best way to say it is you need to discipline yourself to talk less and listen more. Here is a simple way to think about it. 

What if you made room in your life to take 5 minutes a day to actively listen? Believe it or not, it’s actually quite difficult for most people to sit and focus for 5 minutes and listen to God. We often give up after 45 seconds because we become distracted and our minds drift to the activities of the day or we struggle with the discomfort of silence. So it requires intentionality and effort to discipline yourself to take 5 minutes and listen. When you try this, make sure to have a journal or place to write down the thoughts God puts on your heart. Often those things are really simple and you may be tempted to dismiss them because you’re listening for something bigger or more important, but be disciplined to write it down no matter how unusual, simple, or out of the box it may feel. 

Simple things are usually the opposite of what you talk to God about — we often pray desperately about urgent needs, or massive problems, or deep longings and dreams. So if you’re crying out to God and don’t hear much in return or receive the answers you’re looking for — what do you typically do — you pray harder, or in other words, you talk more!

Now, it’s true that scriptures teach us to stay fervent in our cries and prayers to God. So we must passionately keep contending in prayer, not giving up, but half of contending should be listening and then being faithful to God’s leadings.

In my experience, what happens when we begin to listen more is we often receive simple prompts in our heart, such as; reach out to a friend, pray with a spouse, be intentional with one of your kids, go talk to a neighbor, help someone, give to them — you know, things that matter. Also, when we take time to listen we’ll receive God’s blessings, love, and encouragement to keep trusting or to go and be courageous!

It’s important to learn that if we don’t listen to God in the simple things, he may not be able to speak to us about the big things. And who’s to say that the simple things aren’t the biggest things. Perhaps God’s perspective is, 

“You keep asking me to speak,
  but you’re not listening to what I AM saying.
  Be faithful to me in the little things, 
  so I can trust you with the big things.” (Luke 16:10 paraphrase)

The devoted practices this week are the perfect way to immediately help you make room to listen more. In addition to the scripture memory practice and bible reading plan our contending over consuming practice is to do social media fast for the next week (or more). Not only do American spends 5.4 hours on their phone per day, but about 3 hours of that time is on social media. Whoa…this can’t be worth it! Many of us need to recalibrate what’s important. Think about it, are we acting more devoted to our phones than to God? Do our lives demonstrate that we are fully devoted to God or to things like social media? I’m not demonizing social media, for some it may even be a part of your job (in that situation fast the personal/ unnecessary social media time). Social media certainly holds a place in our culture and lives, however we must position it in the right place. This practice is an encouragement for you to deny yourself from what may be a “go to habit” and to replace that with practices of listening, contending in prayer, resting intentionally, connecting with others, and simply making this an act of sacrificial worship to God. Who knows, maybe you’ll discover a number of better things do with your time! Plus you’ll make some room to hear the voice of God.

In 1 Kings 19, when Elijah went up on the mountain he was actually on the run for his life (read 1 Kings 19 here). He was at the end of his rope and wanted to give up doing the right thing and obeying the Lord. He felt like it was too hard and too many people didn’t care about being fully devoted to the Lord, so why should he keep going? He thought he was finished!

But then…
God whispered. 
The Hebrews call this, “a voice of gentle silence,” as if silence became audible and began to speak. 

Elijah quit talking, silence happened, the voice of God came, and Elijah listened.

When Elijah left the mountain he was different than when he came. He had come finished, terrified, and completely spent; but after this encounter with the voice of God he left the mountain renewed, repurposed, and reminded of who he was created to be. God cared about him and had a purpose for him greater than the one he saw in himself. God encouraged and then empowered Elijah to step into the best version of himself.

That’s the voice
we all need to listen to. 


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REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Write your answers in a journal (paper or digital).

1. Do you have 5 minutes?
Do you have 5 minutes that you can set aside to listen to God without predetermined questions, needs, or expectations? What if you took 5 minutes to be wide-open to God’s voice. Perhaps it’s simply adding a very intentional few minutes of listening during your daily quiet time. Or maybe it works better during your lunch break or right before bed. You may not be great at hearing very much at first, but keep working on it, because the more you do it…the more you train and discipline yourself… the better you’ll be at focusing and discerning his voice. We must be fully devoted to the voice of God!
Three simple instructions:

  1. Choose your time / make room to listen, and discipline yourself to get better at listening.

  2. While listening have a journal to write down prompts, thoughts, or words that God speaks or puts on your heart.

  3. Whatever you hear (simple, unexpected, big or small) — receive, obey, or continue to pray on what you hear. We must act on what God is saying!

2. How do you hear God’s voice?
The examples in the devotional of the different ways (voices) God uses to speak to us are just a few of the primary ways the Lord communicates to us.
- The powerful voice. (miraculous)
- The creative voice. (unexpected)
- The gentle voice. (quiet/silence)
- The guiding voice. (purpose)
- The truthful voice. (beliefs)
- The everything else voice — a.k.a. the Holy Spirit.
(comfort & peace)

  • How do you hear? Which one of these ways (voices) do you mostly seek to hear from God? Why do you think that’s the way you mostly seek to hear from God?

  • Choose 2 of these ways (voices) that you need to be more open or intentional in order to hear more from God even more? How can you do that?

3. Optional: Worship with the song, “I’m Listening” (click to watch)


4. Watch or listen to the sermon “The Voice Of God” (click to watch) (from 3/14/21)


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DEVOTED PRACTICES
Practices & patterns of a life devoted to Jesus. 


1. HIDE THE WORD IN YOUR HEART -
The Practice of Scripture Memory
One of the most powerful practices of a devoted life is scripture memorization.

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2. CONTENDING OVER CONSUMING
The Practice of Fasting & Prayer


WEEK 3 - SOCIAL MEDIA FAST (Denying Self)

1. What Is It? — A social media fast isn’t the true definition of biblical fasting (that’s related to food), however, it can be a discipline of denying self for the sake of Jesus. This practice challenges you to refrain from all social media for the week. If you don’t use social media, then choose one media outlet you consume daily such as watching/reading the news, sports news, or a video games..

2. Why Do It? — Most of us fill the margins of our time with way too much scrolling. We must turn down the noise to better hear the voice of God. It’s also a powerful way to experience a renewal of your mind (Rom 12:2). You will experience more time, more rest, and less distraction, comparison, advertising, negativity, and worldly influence. Less is more! If you return to social media after this experience, the hope is that this will help you change your approach and reduce the amount of usage. In other words, less time consuming and more time contending for the better things of life.

This practice will also help you discipline yourself to daily listen to God and to make room for those 5 minutes (or more) of intentional listening.

3. How Do I Prepare? — It may be necessary to temporarily delete your social media apps off of your phone and other devices.

4. DEVOTED+ If you’re doing Devoted+ then you’ll also be doing: 1. One Hour Prayer 2. Continuing to Deny 1 Food Item


Additional Instructions: