Armorbearers International

Do you expect to hear from God? If you do, then great this should be an encouraging confirmation. If not, you should. God wants communication with us (His people.) You know that's what prayer is, communication with our God. Jesus said fifteen times. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!"

Peter Lord noted in his book "Hearing God" that the last two times Jesus said those words, he said it from heaven. He added; let him hear what the Spirit says. I believe as we expect to hear God more, we will hear him more. 1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Here are a few ways to build your expectancy level:

Read the Word of God. Get to know your Lord through the Bible. There are many reasons we can expect to hear from God. For example, a verse quoted earlier, "My sheep listen to my voice, I know them and they follow me. (John 10: 27)

Receive the Holy Spirit. Make it your intent to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. (Romans 8:16) As God's children we can fully expect to receive all His precious gifts reserved for us and to communicate with him.

Seek Him. Seek him and he has promised you will find him. Often, God hides himself from our view so that we might look for him and find him. Even when he does he says he's not far from us at all. Hebrews 11:6; Acts 17:27

Pray the Word of God. Believe it or not, the more you pray the more you expect to hear God. Even so, not just any kind of prayer will build your expectancy. When we pray using God's Word, we obligate him to respond. The Apostle John instructed us with, "This is the confidence (expectancy) we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will (Word) he hears us. And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of him."

Exercise your faith. For years, I doubted God was really speaking to me. Finally, one day I was listening to a Prophet of God say the exact same words God had been speaking to me. My faith rose; He finally got it through to me, that it was him speaking.

Remember, in the Old Testament Priest Eli and young prophet Samuel were both in bed asleep. But Samuel kept getting up in the middle of the night because he heard his name being called. He went to the old man several times thinking it was Eli calling.

Finally, Eli perceived that it was the Lord calling the boy. He told him to go back and lie down, instructing him to say, "Speak, Lord…" (1 Samuel 3 para.) I believe Eli was experienced with hearing from the Lord. Young Samuel obeyed and God began to speak to him.

We have established that hearing the voice of the Spirit is a privilege that belongs to every believer. Exercise your privilege to hear God. Receive it by faith. The writer of Deuteronomy starts out with these words, "and all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken (hear & listen) unto the voice of the Lord thy God."

Position yourself to begin to hear the Lord in intimate fellowship. Know that one of the reasons God wants us to hear him is so that  he may bless us. We must raise our expectations to higher levels of what God wants to do for us. Don't just take my word for it, read Deuteronomy 28 afresh.