Book: Ears To Hear God’s Voice

Basic Information

As a child, I wanted to hear God’s voice more than anything in the world. On Sunday, my family sang songs about God that said, “We walk and talk as good friends should and do,” or “He walks with me and he talks with me and tells me I am his own.” I longed for my voice to “ring with laughter” with God’s. But sadly, our denomination didn’t believe that God divinely interacted with us today. So when I asked my father, an elder and lay minister, how to hear God, he told me the words of another song that said He lived “beyond the azure blue” and that the “prophets of old heard

His voice” but now He “speaks from His inspired word.” God’s grace must have been with me because I persisted in my desire to hear His voice with all my heart. At that wonderful age of twelve, the same age Jesus stayed behind at the temple, I demanded that my father explain to me why the Scriptures promise that Jesus’ “sheep know” His voice. Wasn’t I His little lamb? We preached that if God’s word says something we believe and obey, then why didn’t we believe we could hear Him? I finally realized that my father couldn’t tell me because he had blocked his ears from the voice of God. Like many people, I became discouraged and disillusioned with the church.

Then one day, after many years of teenage struggle and rebellion, I realized that God had been speaking to me all along. I didn’t yet understand the biblical doctrine that explained how we hear God, I just knew His voice. By this time, I was married and had a child of my own, and fortunately, my husband longed to know God and to hear His voice more clearly. When we prayed as a young couple for God to give us “ears to hear Your voice,” we had no idea what that really meant. Looking back on that prayer, I wonder if we would have asked for God’s voice if we had understood the cost.

After almost 30 years of striving to distinguish God’s voice from our own and those of others, Tim and I have come to learn that to know His voice, we must die to self. Jesus knew His Father’s voice. But he only heard it clearly through suffering and denying his own voice. Many ask us, “How do you really hear God? How can you be so sure?” And we ask, “Are you willing to silence your own voice?”

This book has burned in Tim’s heart for many years, but we still had lessons to learn— and we learn new ones every day. Many, young and old, ask us to teach them to hear God, and His Spirit now urges us to share what He has taught us. Tim will lay out the authority and biblical doctrine of how “the prophets of old” heard God’s voice and how the Bible clearly teaches we can today. We will share how we applied these things to our own lives, the times we heard God clearly and the times not so clearly. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:11 that the stories of old were “written down as warnings” so that we could learn from their errors. We made a lot of mistakes along the way, but those times helped us to desire more of the cross of Christ in order to put our own voices to death. God does indeed speak through “His inspired word,” but also through people, through circumstances, and directly to our hearts. It is our hope that this book will encourage you to silence all other voices and gain “ears to hear.”—Carla Williams

Chapters

1. The Voice of God
2. The Burning Bush
3. The Sin of Unbelief
4. The Promised Land
5. Growing Up
6. The Need For Self-Crucifixion
7. The Shame of the Cross
8. Teenage Years
9. God’s Paths, Commands, Precepts, Ways and Laws
10. Dreams, Visions and Spiritual Gifts
11. God’s Voice and Unity
12. How To Hear God Through Others
13. When God is Silent
14. The Facial Expressions of God
15. Adulthood—The Spirit of Pentecost
16. Judgment and Judging

Audiobook

PDF: Ears to Hear

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Disclaimer

Ears To Hear Hearing God’s Voice by Way of the Cross By Timothy Williams

The Consider Podcast Examining today’s madness, folly and wisdom. http://www.archive.consider.info

© 2003, 2007, 2023 by Timothy Williams.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise—without the prior permission of the copyright holder, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptures are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. The “niv” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society.

Scripture references marked kjv are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture references marked nasb are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (Revelation 22:17)

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