Voices in my head. Voices in my ears. Voices in my heart. How do I sort them out?
God says that He speaks to us in a still, small voice, but how do I hear it above all the other voices that come at me each day? I went to my Joyce Meyer Everday Life Bible and looked to see what verses she listed for Hearing from God. Listen to what the bible says in these verses from the Amplified version.
Deuteronomy 28:1 If you will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all His commandments which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
Psalm 40:6 Sacrifice and offering You do not desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given me the capacity to hear and obey [Your law, a more valuable service than] burnt offerings and sin offerings [which] You do not require.
Psalm 95:7-8 For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice, vs 8: Harden not your hearts as at Meribah and as at Massah in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
Psalm 119: 129-130 Your testimonies are wonderful [far exceeding anything conceived by man]; therefore my [penitent] self keeps them [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]. vs 130: The entrance and unfolding of Your words give light; their unfolding gives understanding (discernment and comprehension) to the simple.
Jeremiah 7:23 But this thing I did command them; Listen to and obey My voice, and I will be your God and you will be My people; and walk in the the whole way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
Matthew 7:24-25 So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
Matthew 13: 19, 23 While anyone is hearing the Word of the kingdom and does not grasp and comprehend it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the roadside. vs 23: As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the Word and grasps and comprehends it; he indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred times as much as was sown, in another sixty times as much, and in another thirty.
John 10:5, 27 They will never [on any account] follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers or recognize their call. vs. 27: The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).
James 1:22-25 But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. vs 23: For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully on his [own] natural face in a mirror; vs. 24: For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. vs 25: But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).
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When you read these verses together, you can see a common thread of listening to God through reading His word, of being obedient to His word, His commands, His ways. We must not harden (close) our hearts to what He says in His word. We must not listen to strangers, those who do not know God and His word. We must listen for His voice. We must obey Him. We must be doers of the Word. We must sow the seeds of our life on good soil, which is the Word of God.
In doing all these things, He will give us ability, understanding, and a harvest in our lives. Then and only then will we be able to hear His voice above all the other voices that come at us each day.