How to Hear From God

The transcription is about the importance of hearing from God and the story of Samuel hearing God's voice. It emphasizes the need for a conducive atmosphere and obedience in order to hear from God. Eli, the priest, initially did not recognize that God was speaking to Samuel because God's word was rare in those days. The transcription also mentions that God's voice sounds like love and that God speaks in an environment of unity. The story of Samuel demonstrates the importance of being obedient to God's voice. Praise the Lord! People of God, praise God! Well, it's yet another beautiful Sunday, and again, as always, we are delighted and blessed to be able to bring to God's people God's Word this evening. As always, as we always say, that as we bring God's Word to God's people, we are increased because we are learning. We have to study to find nuggets of truth in the Word of God, and we depend very heavily on the Holy Spirit to show us truth, to show us light. And not only to show us light, but to teach us how to relay that light to others so that others also can grow, others can see the truth of God's Word. And so every Sunday, Sunday in, Sunday out, it's a delight for us because it's a journey, and it's a beautiful experience. And the reason is that each time we're preparing for these recordings, we always find new things, you know. We find fresh perspective in the Word. We find, like, hidden treasures in the Word. What is amazing is that very often, these truths that we discover, they're not things that are unknown. For example, today's Scripture, our text for today, is a text that is very, very known, very well known to me. I have read this text countless times, but as I was preparing for this evening's meeting, I saw so many different things that I hadn't seen before. And that's because, you know, God's Word is alive and well. The Word of God is alive. The Bible says the Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to cut asunder the soul and the spirit, the joints and the marrow. God's Word is alive, and that's why for us, it's a joy. Every Sunday, it's a joy. It's a privilege. And so today, we're going to talk about a topic that I find so dear to my heart because it's an experience for me. It's an area that I believe that God has been so super gracious because, you see, many aspects of Christianity are not widely enjoyed by all Christians. And that's because just like life, everybody's experience in life is different. Also in Christianity, Christians, we experience our journey in different ways. Some may experience favor in a greater dimension than others might. Some may experience wisdom in greater dimensions than others might. Even though it's the will of God that we have abundance of all of this, but it is true that some believers have a more abundant experience of certain areas in their walk than others do. So today's topic, my subject today, is on hearing from God. And we're going to talk about how to hear from God. We're going to examine a few principles on hearing from God. The reason why this is very interesting and exciting for me is that I have been blessed to be able to hear from God, even from a very young age. So hearing from God is something that is so dear to me. When I'm not able to hear clearly from God, I know that something is wrong. This is how important it is to me for the channels of my communication with God to be open. Life outside of God's revelation is really not something you want to explore. Life is a difficult journey. Life is almost like walking on a dark street without street lights. Pitch black. You can't see where you're going. So you need light. And hearing from God is that light that the believer needs to journey through life successfully because all light is not the light that you need. We need to hear from God to be able to make our journey successful. So today we're talking about how to hear from God. And my text for this evening is from the book of Samuel, 1 Samuel, Chapter 3. I'm going to start my reading from Verse 1. So 1 Samuel, Chapter 3, we're starting at Verse 1. The Bible says, Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no widespread revelation. And it came to pass at that time while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, And before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord, where the ark of God was. And Samuel was lying down. It came to pass then that the Lord called Samuel and he answered, Here I am. So he, Samuel, he ran to Eli and said, Here I am. For you called me, Samuel said to Eli. And Eli said, I did not call. Lie down again. And he went and lay down. Then the Lord called yet again, Samuel. So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, Here I am. For you called me. Eli answered, I did not call, my son. Lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him. Verse 8. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and again he goes to Eli and said, Here I am. For you did call me. Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go lay down. And it shall be if he calls you that you must say, Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. Verse 9 again. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go lay down. And it shall be if he calls you that you must say, Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Verse 10. Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears. So our discussion today is going to stop here at verse 10. This story is familiar to many. It's familiar to me. I've read this story many times. I've heard this story preached. This piece of scripture, I've heard it preached many times. And like I said before, as I prepared for this meeting, I saw many things that I hadn't seen before. This story is about Samuel, the boy Samuel. We all know about Samuel. Samuel is Hannah's firstborn child. Hannah was unable to have children for a long time. She had a rival called Penina, Penina. And Penina has children. Hannah has none. So she's here in the temple. She's crying her heart out to God. And Eli, the priest, sees her and says, It's so early this morning. Why are you drunk? And she says, No, my Lord. I am not drunk. I am praying. I am pouring out my heart unto God. She needed to have this child. So Eli blesses her. And according to the time of life, she conceives and she has Samuel. Because she made a vow unto God. She made a covenant with God that if you would bless me with a child, with this male child, I will give him to you. And so God blesses her. She has Samuel. And she weans Samuel. And then she brings Samuel to serve. She gives Samuel to the Lord. And this is where the story picks up in verse 1 of chapter 3. Samuel now has grown up ministering to the Lord before Eli, the priest. He came as an infant. His mother weaned him and brought him to minister to the Lord. And he grew up under the tutelage of Eli, the priest. And he's lying down one day, having finished his work for the day, because the Bible says he ministered before the Lord. He ministered to the Lord before Eli. And verse 2 says, and it came to pass at that time while Eli was lying down in his place. The Bible says also in verse 3, while Samuel was lying down also in his place. It was bedtime. The Bible also says in verse 3, the Bible says, this time now is while Eli was lying down in his place. And the time also was the time before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord, where the ark was. So it was bedtime. Eli was laid down, he was done for the day. Samuel also laid down, he was done for the day. It was bedtime. And while getting ready to sleep, Samuel hears a voice. Samuel hears a voice which sounded to him familiar. And when he hears this voice, he goes to Eli. Because at that time Eli was probably the only person who could have called him. And so he hears a voice. And he goes to Eli thinking it was Eli who called him. Remember, the Bible says Samuel didn't yet know God. He didn't yet know God. He didn't yet know the voice of God. He didn't know how God sounded. He didn't know God had never spoken to Samuel. And so when he hears a voice, to his mind it's going to be another human being calling him. And the voice he heard had to have sounded like the voice of Eli. That's why he went to Eli. And so the Bible says that Samuel goes to Eli and he says, Here I am, for you called me. Now Eli didn't call him. So Eli says to Samuel, I didn't call you. Go lie down. Samuel goes, he lays down. And he hears his name again, Samuel. And he runs back to Eli. And Eli says, I didn't call you. Go lay down. Now, you would have thought that the first time Samuel came to Eli, at that point, should have known that perhaps God was speaking to Samuel. After all, Eli was a priest. It didn't necessarily need to take three different calls for Eli to realize that God was in the building. But the Bible says, in verse 1, the Bible says, The word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no widespread revelation. So God hadn't spoken in a long time. God hadn't spoken to anyone in a long time. God was the priest. God hadn't spoken to Eli in a long time. The Bible says God's word was rare. This is why Eli didn't think that it would be God speaking. And if it would be God speaking, God would probably be talking to him. Because, after all, he was the priest. And so this is why when Samuel heard the voice of God and went to Eli, Eli couldn't in his wildest imagination think it was God speaking. And if God was speaking, God would surely not be talking to a boy. God would talk to him, the priest. But God was speaking and God was not speaking to Eli. The Bible says that Eli was lying down in his place. And his eyes had begun to grow dim. So dim that he could not see. And before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle, what this tells me is that Eli, because of age, and perhaps because of sin in his house, because remember now, Eli's sons had become a menace to the society. And they had brought shame to the name of the Lord because Eli was the priest. And his sons were so sinful that it would reflect badly on the priest and on God because Eli was the priest of God. And so that might even have been one, as a matter of fact, that would have been a good reason why God wouldn't speak to Eli because Eli lost a handle on his sons. So at that time, Eli was old. His eyes were growing dim by reason of age, which meant that Eli couldn't see in the natural. His vision was dim. And also in the spiritual realm, Eli couldn't see. So here we had a priest who had vision issues. He couldn't see in the natural. He couldn't see in the spirit realm. He couldn't hear from God. The word of God was rare. And he, the priest, was in the house of God and couldn't hear from God. So that's to tell you that sometimes, even as people, men and women of God, busy for God, working for God, you could be in the house of God and not hear from God and have no revelation. You could be doing for God, being so busy organizing this and that, and God isn't talking to you at all. He's talking to a very young person, someone maybe you think is inconsequential, but God is talking to them. God isn't speaking to the pastor. God isn't speaking to the bishop. God is speaking to a boy. God is speaking to the janitor. God is speaking. He's just not speaking to you. And so here we have Samuel who is hearing from God but has no understanding of the speakings of God, has no understanding of the word of God because he's not yet familiar with God and not yet familiar with how God speaks with the voice of God. And so he runs to Eli the second time. And Eli sends him back the second time. And Samuel goes to bed. And then God calls Samuel again. And Samuel, the Bible says in verse 6, then the Lord called yet again Samuel. So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, like he said before, here I am for you called me. And by this time, this is now the third time, the Bible says, sorry, this is verse 8 now. The Bible says, then Eli perceived. Finally, Eli picks up that God is speaking and God is speaking to this boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, verse 9, go lie down and it shall be if he calls you that you must say, speak Lord, for your servant hears. So Samuel goes and he lays down. And the Lord comes back as at other times, verse 10. The Lord comes back and the Lord calls Samuel now the fourth time. This is now the fourth time that Samuel answers, speak for your servant hears. This is a perfect example of how God deals with us even now. Many Christians, many believers are unaware that God speaks. Many believers are unaware that God has a voice. Many believers are unaware of how to hear from God. And so this evening we're going to look at a few things. We're going to look at three points about hearing and hearing from God. The first point we're going to look at is that the atmosphere. I have here in my notes, the first point is a conducive atmosphere. God comes to the believer in a place of ministry. The atmosphere must be comfortable for God to come and talk to the believer. God, his presence, you know God's presence is so valuable. God's presence is so heavy. And God doesn't just go anywhere. God goes to the place of ministry. The atmosphere has to be right. Even in the Bible, Saul, who had somewhat of a mental illness, Saul needed just the right atmosphere. He needed the right atmosphere. This is why he had David playing the harp, so that the atmosphere could be conducive for him. So also the spirit of God. God, when God comes in to speak to the believer, the environment needs to be conducive. God only goes and stays in a place where he is comfortable. The Bible says that Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. That means he was in the place of prayer, in the place of worship, in the place of fellowship. That's the place of communion with God. God gravitates towards his word. If you take God's word to him, if you take his word to him, God will speak back to you through his word. So anywhere that the word of God is, whether you're praying the word, whether you're singing the word, or declaring the word, where the word of God is, God is there too. There is a correlation between the place of ministry and God's presence. Many people don't understand this, you know. Many people don't understand this. I have been to a church, I would say, where worship was powerful, but the word wasn't strong. And because the word wasn't strong, the church wasn't growing. And the only way a church will grow is by the presence of God. Because when God comes on the scene, many things happen. Many things happen. Signs and wonders and miracles take place by the word of God. And so if the word of God isn't predominant in a place, the presence of God also isn't going to be very heavy in that place. But a place where God is, his voice manifests. Where God goes, God speaks. Why? Because God speaks. The Bible says, Once have I said it, twice have I heard it. So when God is present in a place, he speaks in that place. So the place of ministry to God is the place of his presence. And the place of his presence is the place of his voice, the place of revelation. The Bible says in, going back to our text, the Bible says in verse 2, And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow dim, so dim that he couldn't see. And this is verse 3 now. And before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord, where the ark of God was. So there is a time element involved in creating a conducive environment for God. God is a God of covenant. God is a God of order. God is a God of order. So if, for example, you have a time where you meet with God, maybe it's 9 a.m. every morning, 9 p.m. every evening, when you have set a time to meet with God, God waits for you at that time. God waits for you at that time because that is a time of ministry unto God. That's the time of ministry unto God. It's a time of dedication. It's a time that you have dedicated unto him. And when you dedicate a time unto God, the chances are everything you're going to do in that time is going to be God-focused. Like the Bible says, at that time before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord, where the ark of the Lord was, if you look at all that, everything is centered around God. And so God manifests himself in an environment where he's comfortable, in a place that you have prepared intentionally for his presence, that you have dedicated to welcome him. That means it's the place of your altar. You have built an altar unto God at that time, in that place, and his presence will always come because if you invite him, he will come. God always responds to his word. He responds to your effort to create an environment for him, an atmosphere for him, and he comes. God also is comfortable in an environment of love. The Bible says God is love. God is love. And so God thrives in a loving environment. The atmosphere of love and unity invites the presence of Almighty God. It's in the place of unity where there is no strife. That's where God's voice is going to be. Eli. Eli was a very loving old man. How do we know this? He was loving to Samuel. You can tell that he raised Samuel in an environment of love. He probably was such a loving man. That's how he got in trouble with his sons, maybe too loving, so much so that he lost a handle on his sons, and his sons became terrorists to society and brought down the house of Eli. Eli was a loving man. Because the Bible says that when God called Eli the second time, Eli, in telling Samuel to go back to lay down, Eli calls Samuel, my son. He calls Samuel, my son. This is a boy who isn't his biological son, but he calls him my son. And for Samuel to have gone to Eli when he heard the voice, it meant that the voice of God must have sounded to him like the voice of love, the voice of Eli. Because Samuel was used to a loving voice, a fatherly voice, so his voice, the voice which he heard, must have had love in it for him to have gone to the voice of love which he heard every day, being the voice of Eli. Because God is love, God's voice has to sound like love. The Bible says, my sheep know my voice. The voice of another they will not obey. And that's because the voice of the shepherd is the voice of love. And so if you ever hear a voice in your head that is not laced with love, that is not God. It's the voice of another don't obey. For instance, the voice of God will never tell you to commit suicide. The voice of God will never tell you to commit murder. God's voice is that still, small, loving voice. Even in correction, God corrects us in love. It's very, very possible that if the voice which Samuel heard didn't sound like love, didn't sound like a fatherly voice, he would not have gone to Eli. The Bible didn't say Samuel was asleep. The Bible said he was laying down. Samuel was a boy, he was not an infant. And so he must have had some level of understanding. Even reading this text we can see that Samuel has some level of understanding because when God finally speaks to Samuel, and reveals to Samuel the judgment which was coming to the house of Eli, Samuel had enough discretion, enough presence of mind to keep it from Eli. And so he knew that what God told him was so heavy, he didn't want to tell Eli. So that's not a child. He might have been a child, a boy, but he had intelligence. And so he could tell the difference between the voice of an intruder, for example, or the voice of a demon. But when he heard the voice, the voice sounded like the voice of a loving father. The voice he heard every day, training him, raising him in love. That's why he went to Eli. That's why he didn't yell. That's why he didn't try to find help. He went to the voice which was the voice of love that raised him in love like a son, like a father to a son. And so God is love. A loving environment, an environment of unity, is an environment where God will come and reside and be comfortable, and God will speak in that environment where there is unity. All right, so my second point about how to hear from God is obedience. Samuel was obedient in the house of Eli. Samuel was a meek child. He was obedient, and that's why the Bible says, when he heard the voice of God the fourth time and he went to Eli, and Eli gave him the instructions and told him what to do, he did exactly as Eli told him. Remember, Samuel was living in the house of Eli, and Samuel would have by now seen the behavior of the sons of Eli, because if the sons of Eli could behave the way they did outside, in fact, they had no respect for their father. But Samuel was not like the sons of Eli. He had an obedient heart. So what he was told is what he did, and God honored that. God was attracted to Samuel's obedience to Eli, because God is attracted to an obedient heart, a meek heart. The Bible says that stubbornness is as the sin of witchcraft, and God rejects the stubborn heart. God rejects the stubborn heart. So many believers, you know, especially believers who have been walking with God for a while, think we know everything. We don't even want to listen to our leaders, because truly there are some believers who have more knowledge and more light and more revelation than their leaders. But God isn't particularly interested in that. When God sets a leader over his people, it's for a reason. God knows that you have revelation, but God didn't choose you as the leader. God chose for himself shepherds after his own heart to keep his flock. And so once God has chosen someone else to lead you, you get there and be led. We have to have the heart of Samuel. We have to have a heart that obeys. If you can't obey man that you see, how can you obey God, God whom you don't see? And so it's very important as believers to have meek and humble obedient hearts, because that is attractive to God. That takes me to my third and final point, which is being open to the voice of God. We have to be open to the voice of God, and we have to believe God. We have to be open to God's voice and believe that God speaks to man. And when God does speak to us, we need to believe what God has said. We need to believe what God has said. The book of Luke chapter 1 verse 45 says, Blessed is she who believed, for there shall be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord. So there is a correlation, a direct relationship between believing and manifestation. What you don't believe doesn't manifest. There is a blessing in believing, and believing leads to manifestation, a fulfillment of those things which were told, said by the Lord, by the voice of God. If you believe, you will have what you believe. If you don't believe, what you heard is true, but it stays in the realm of the spirit where it was released, but it will never reach you in the physical. Why? Because you don't believe. So how do we open our minds to the voice of God? How do we get to be open to God? We need to be quiet. The Bible says, Be still and know that I am God. We need to be still. We need to wait to hear from God. And once we pray, just like Samuel said, after we have prayed, we need to say to God, Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. And then we wait to hear what the Spirit of God drops in our heart. And He drops it by way of thoughts. Very often, you think it's you thinking it, but it's not you. It's the Spirit of God placing it in your heart. That is God speaking back to you. Because communication with God, prayer to God, is a two-way activity. You pray to God, you talk to God, and then you wait. Like Samuel, you say to God, Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears. Why? The reason is this. God is very, very respectful of our boundaries. God is very respectful of our free will. God Himself gave us free will. And so even though He wants to talk to us, even though He wants to communicate with us, He needs us to invite Him, to give Him access to speak to us. This is why, because God so desires to talk to us, He doesn't give up. Because He knows, like Samuel, some of us are still babies in the things of God. Many of us don't yet know Him to that level where we know when He's speaking, we know His voice. But He desires to talk to us. That's why, like Samuel, He called Samuel four times. He didn't give up and say, Oh, this boy, he can't hear me. I'm gone. I'm done. He called him the first time, the second time, the third time. He came back a fourth time, by which time Samuel had now been trained by Eli in the ways of God and how to hear from God. Even though Eli could no longer hear, could no longer see, he still knew how to hear. He still knew what to do when God was speaking. He didn't forget that, even though he could no longer hear from God directly. But he remembers from the time he used to hear from God. And so he was able to train Samuel on how to hear from God. But God, after calling Samuel once, twice, three times, God didn't give up. God kept trying until Samuel had increased in knowledge and rose up to the frequency where Samuel could hear God. And Samuel, having learned now, had to invite God in, had to give permission to speak. Samuel had to say to him, I hear you now, Lord. I am available. I give you access. I invite you to speak to me. God isn't going to force himself on us. God isn't going to intrude and invade our lives and our space. God will call you because God wants to talk to you, but God needs you to hear and know that he wants to talk to you, and God needs you to give him permission to speak to you. And so Samuel gives God access, and God begins to speak mysteries to Samuel, begins to speak to Samuel secrets, heavy, heavy stuff about Eli, about the impending judgment coming upon Eli's house. These are things that God didn't reveal to anyone else but Samuel. And this marks the beginning of God's dealings with Samuel, and Samuel would grow to become one of the greatest prophets in Israel, a prophet full of power, a prophet full of compassion, so much so that Samuel, the Bible says, Samuel wept when God rejected Saul because Samuel had grown to love Saul just like Eli had loved him. Samuel was raised by a loving old priest, and he grew up into a loving old prophet. But the question is, does God still speak to man even now? The answer is yes, a resounding yes. In fact, God is speaking so much in this dispensation, so clearly and so powerfully in this dispensation that the manifold presence of God is so heavy on this generation that we need to begin to study, we need a regular deep study of how God speaks so that we can teach about the speakings of God. Because God is speaking these days in such a way that even the old Christians, old-time Christians, they are amazed. And in fact, many of the old-time Christians are so, for want of a better word, out of touch, that they almost kind of suspect what's happening in this dispensation, and how God is revealing himself is a marvel and a wonder to the older generation of Christians that they themselves are finding out that they are learning new things about God and they need to catch up. That's what's happening. God is speaking and pouring out such a great measure of himself in this dispensation on this generation that we need to talk more and teach more and more people about God's voice, God's speaking, and how to hear from God. So once you have prayed and the Spirit of God has spoken back to you in your mind by way of thoughts, pick up a pen and paper and write down what God has said. Because sometimes God will give you specific supernatural instruction that you need to remember when the time comes for you to do what God says for you to do. So write it down. Write it down and do exactly what he says to do. Okay? So brothers and sisters, I pray. My prayer for us all this evening is that even today, we will begin to hear from God clearly, clearly like a man speaks to a friend. Because God said of Moses, he said, if there were prophets in Israel, I would speak to them by dreams and visions. But Moses, my servant, is not like that. I speak to Moses face to face. So in this season, I pray that God will speak to you, God will speak to me, God will speak to his church face to face as a man speaks to a friend. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, people of God, it's been yet another awesome time in the presence of God. I trust and believe that we've all been blessed by this word. And we look forward to next Sunday when we'll bring another teaching straight from the heart of God. Stay blessed. Till next time. Bye.