Hearing His Voice, Part II
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
- Hebrews 4:12 (NKJ)
Your mind plays a huge role in how much or little you are able to hear God's voice. Blind the mind to Truth - like the serpent with Eve - and you will step out of the garden of His will into disaster! Everything starts slipping…your decisions, relationships, health, mental well-being, etc.
3 John 1:2 “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” (The soul houses your mind, will and emotions)
Really, Deceived means: “To believe (in one’s mind) a false perception as being Truth.” (like the horse and the chicken/dragon from Part I!) Out of one’s belief rises an action – whether it be obedience leading to life, or disobedience leading to death and harm. It all starts with a thought. That is why we are told to gird up the loins of our mind (I Peter 1:13), and to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). This is a type of preface to our subject.
Ok. When God first started showing me all this about the mind and hearing, He gave me this verse. Let me substitute (mind and thought, perceptions) for eye and you will see what I saw:
Luke 11:34-36
"The lamp of the body is the mind (the place where you perceive things to be true or not). Therefore, when your mind is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your mind (your thoughts and perceptions) are bad, your body also is full of darkness (emptiness, upset, anxiety, and confusion. And your physical countenance shows it). "Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.
"Take heed" means you do something about the condition of your mind that the light in you is not darkness.
One side note on light: God’s Word is Light and in His Word is no darkness or clouded perceptions at all. Therefore the Word, spoken and written, becomes a revealing lamp to your path... His word is a compass when inside and outside influences are spinning and screaming. (1 John 1:5, Ps. 119:105).
Ok, here it is: What do I do (in practical life) to change the condition of my mind???
Set your mind... For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." - Colossians 3:2-3
Clearly, You are the one who's setting your mind, the body's lamp. And you are to "take heed" that the "light" in your mind is not darkness. This isn’t God’s responsibility.
EXAMPLE: for setting your mind… If the temperature in the room (mind) is 30 F, and you want it to be 75 F, you set the thermostat to the Fahrenheit you want. Just because you feel cold, you do not collapse on your couch and give in to “numbing” sensations – that leads to frostbite! Obvious enough… Translate to the rooms in your mind. Feelings are going to battle your decision to move from 30 below to 75 F. But you keep your mind set on 75 F (where you are going). Because if your thoughts shift back to 30 below (where you’re at), you will never reach 75 F (point B). “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he (or so he becomes.)” – Proverbs 23:7
2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations (perceptions that disagree with God’s word), and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (TRUTH), and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…
Setting the temperature with the spoken Word
Sometimes keeping your mind set requires speaking to it out loud a hundred times between 5:00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m. In trials, I have had to walk through the blizzard of keeping my mind set when circumstances read 30 below 0 and I needed to know – I had to preach to my own mind out of the word of God. And preach out loud so I could hear it. I had to saturate these private sermons with scriptures, “The entrance of God’s Word brings light. It is a lamp to my feet, and a light directing my path. John 10:27 says: ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.’” Jessica, you are His sheep, and He speaks to you – Jessica, do you remember when God… etc., etc. and how He was faithful to you…”
I am telling you this because I found it in the word and had to walk through it myself. Luke 11:34-36, Romans 10:17)
I know it’s an old example for the spoken word over thoughts… but it’s a good one:
Count from 1 – 10 starting now… one, two, three, four. Stop and read out loud: “Hot fudge Sunday with fresh strawberries!” Your mind had to stop thinking numbers and paint a new picture. And if you’re like me, your mouth responded to that picture with saliva!
Set the temperature of your mind to the word of God (Truth). It will open your ears to hear more clearly. You will need direction in the days ahead. As a Christian you have the ability to hear God’s voice. Develop in it: Isaiah 30:19,20 says “He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you…Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.”
Watch for the next articles in this series…
1Peter_1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Hebrews 3:15 “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." (NKJ) Do not be like the horse whose emotions and perception of a chicken drove him to harden his heart to the voice of the reins. His flesh was ripped open. Set your mind.
Ephesians 4:22-24
22 …put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and that (as a consequence of renewing your mind) you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Because you become what you think Proverbs 23:7)(NKJ)
Back to Article List
