HEARING AND OBEYING THE VOICE OF GOD (Lenten12)

In my blog about personal temptation, I mentioned how we must yield our faculties SENSES to the Lord. In our bodies we have 5 natural senses, and  unless they are under the Lordship of Christ, they can cause us to sin.
We sang a chorus in Sunday School
‘Watch your eyes what they see watch your ears what they hear” etc.
These are our 5 senses:
SEEING
HEARING
TOUCHING
TASTING
SMELLING
Now that we are born again we must now learn to develop our SPIRITUAL SENSES. 
I want to talk about SPIRITUAL HEARING TODAY, and during this Lenten period it is a great opportunity to work on this area. So, that we can learn more and more to discern God’s voice when he speaks to us.

GOD SPEAKS TO US IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS.

• God especially wants to talk to us from HIS WORD. We must become men and women of the Book, spending quality time in the Word DAILY, just not reading it, but meditating upon it. You have probably seen the picture of a man with hands raised saying “God speak to me” and out of heaven comes a hand with a Bible.
•  God wants to speak to us through the Teaching and Preaching of the Word of God
•  God can speak to us through the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
•  God can speak to us through circumstances, and even a beautiful sunset.
• God can speak to us through a Brother or Sister.
•  God also wants us to learn to recognise and hear and listen to THE STILL SMALL VOICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITHIN US.

Sadly, we are aware of numerous people over the years who have thought they have heard God speak to them, but because of their immaturity, ignorance and perhaps carnality, they totally misheard, and some have even shipwrecked their life.
may I say hear, if you believe God has spoken to you, what you believe you have heard WILL ALWAYS AND WITHOUT EXCEPTION LINE UP WITH THE WORD OF GOD.
I personally feel, this is an area where it is essential to have a MENTOR otherwise your ability (initially) hearing  be hit and miss. When you fell God has spoken to you, bounce it often your Mentor, this is such a good check and balance.
The Bible is full of references  about hearing the voice of God, let me mention just a few.
1 Kings 19:12 NKJV a still small voice.
Psalm 29:4 NKJV The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
Song of Songs 2:8 NKJV The voice of my beloved!
Isaiah 6:8 NKJV Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
Revelation 3:6 NKJV He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’
Paul also tells us in 1 Cor. 14:10 KJV There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.
I sincerely believe God wants to speak to us EVERY DAY but we must make time to deliberately, sit down and prepare our hearts through prayer and worship and let God speak to us,  many many times it will be from the Word of God, but equally when we have our ears tuned, and their is no spiritual wax in our ears (no sins in our life) we can have an Ezekiel experience Chapter 3:12 KJV Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place
Let us learn not just bto listen but also obey amen.
Let us learn to hear the Lord’s voice speaking us, not only during this Lenten period, but let it be a regular part of our lives for PRAYER IS MEANT TO BE A 2 WAY CONVERSATION