Hearing God’s Voice: Valuing His Presence
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” –John 10:27
My friend Mary hears the Lord’s voice. It’s what she values most. Recently, I could tell she’d had a rough week. She shared a little about her struggle; then our conversation turned quickly to her greatest fear: not hearing the Lord’s voice. In response to her fear, she wisely guarded her heart because she knew it determined the course of her life (Proverbs 4:23).
More than acquiring my sympathy in her trial, Mary valued hearing God’s voice and being close to Him. I saw her clearly: Mary loves God with her whole heart because she knows He loves her. That’s why she hears His voice and follows Him!
Moving Beyond Religious Checklists
For decades I tried to love God with my whole heart. I soldiered through—reading His Word, going to church, serving in different ways—but it seemed laborious. My relationship with Him was more like a grocery store checklist:
I read my Bible—check!
I went to church—check!
I held some babies in the church nursery and shared canned good at the food drive—check-check!
But something was missing for me—for decades.
I didn’t know the Father’s love for me.
I was saved by Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit when I was ten years old, but I hadn’t experienced the Father’s love—not in a way that I truly believed He loved me. I had memorized Scripture about His love. I could recite John 3:16. But I didn’t really believe He loved me. What was the disconnect? I focused on loving God but didn’t understand that “we [can only] love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Discovering God’s Love
So I prayed: “Show me Your love, Father. I want to know the love the Apostle Paul prays for in Ephesians 3:
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father … that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. –Ephesians 3:14, 16–19
And it happened: I experienced a smidgen of “the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth” of God’s love for me. He has always loved me—since the beginning of time (2 Timothy 1:9). But now I believe it! I ask Him all the time to show me His love for me, and He reveals it to my heart and mind. He fills me with His love and His presence, “because God is love,” and "His compassions ... are new every morning" (1 John 4:8; Lamentations 3:22–23).
How the Holy Spirit Transforms Our Lives
The Father wants us to know Him, to fill us with His love for us, and to saturate us with His Spirit. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13). How amazing! “Made to drink” is an ancient Greek verb meaning “without boundaries.”
When God’s Spirit fills us “without boundaries,” it helps us to love Him deeply. We can love what He loves and value what He values. It’s easier to love people and choose joy in trials. We may even find ourselves with a greater desire to give generously and pursue excellence. When we know God’s love for us, we’re able to trust Him, so we can hear His voice and follow Him—just like my friend Mary.
Additional Resources
Read Week 1: “Know God Personally”
Read Week 2: “Grow in Faith”
Read Week 3: “Live on Mission”
Learn More About What We Believe at Gateway.
Watch Recent Gateway Sermons.