YOU CAN HEAR GOD IF YOU REALLY WANT TO

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 8:31-32 (NASB)  

Jesus was not talking only about reading and studying the Bible. 

• The Jewish Rabbis of the time knew the Jewish scriptures by heart, word for word but many did not recognise Jesus as the Messiah promised in the very scriptures they studied.

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. John 5:39-40 (NKJV)  

Jesus was the Living God walking the earth as a man. 

He was constantly speaking as God to anyone who would listen in faith.

God is still speaking today. 

• As He sent Jesus to be born in Bethlehem, so now He has sent His Holy Spirit to speak to anyone who is willing to listen in faith.

You can study the Bible all your life and miss what God is saying to you. 

You can go to the best churches and hear the best preachers and not hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. 

• The person sitting next to you in the same meeting may hear the voice of God clearly but you can miss it.

There was a woman in Iran who was open to hear from the true and living God. She had lived her life as a Muslim but her heart was hungry for something more. She watched a Christian TV program beamed to her house by satellite. She was so thirsty for freedom that she risked prosecution, as many do, by having a satellite TV receiver dish on her roof.

The preacher quoted the words of Jesus from Revelation.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Rev 3:20 (NKJV)  

She longed to know God. She believed. 

• She went to her front door and opened it. She saw Jesus standing there and invited Him to come in. She offered him some food and He ate with her. 

  • From that moment she was a new person, a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, willing to risk her life in an oppressive Muslim country.

If you read the Bible with an open heart, Jesus will speak to you, probably not with an audible voice and possibly not in a vision but your spirit will come alive to the loving heart of God speaking through His words.