God’s voice… How many Christians anguish overhearing it? How many are tormented because they don’t have the faith that they can hear Jesus’ voice? How many? Even though Jesus declared himself to be the “Good Shepherd” and has promised that his “sheep WILL hear his voice”; how many Christians, for whatever reason, continue to doubt that they can hear God’s voice? True, the carnal man does not know the sound of God’s voice, and the newly born spiritual man is not entirely familiar with its sound either; but the doubt and uncertainty should soon pass away for the born-again believer so he or she can become a hearing and obedient child of God, grounded in faith and hope with the wings of righteousness flying high in submission to the gentle and gracious God of their salvation. 

The Comfort of Power from Psalm 29
Psalm 29 was written to reassure us of God’s exceedingly powerful and magnificent, unmatched voice. The Psalm cries out to Man to “give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.” And it proclaims loudly that God’s voice is great beyond our comprehension. It announces:

PSALM 29

The voice of the Lord is upon the waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful.

The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.

The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness.

The voice of the Lord makes the hinds to calve, and discovers the forests. 

Certainly, if the Lord’s voice can do all the profound things stated in Psalm 29: shake trees, cut through fire, shake the wilderness, give birth to animals in the wild, explore the earth, and ride the oceans – all in power and excellent majesty, should not Christians have faith that the voice of the Lord will cut through all the other voices of our existence to speak clearly and concisely to our heart?

Jesus declared himself to be the Good Shepherd and said his sheep would hear his voice. Jn. 10:11-16 This is a promise. If we are members of Jesus’ flock, we WILL hear his voice – He has said so! If we, as Christians seek to hear and obey then the “bottom line” promise of Psalm 29 will be realized. A thing even greater than cutting through fire, breaking awesome trees, or riding along on vast deep oceans, will happen. God’s voice “will give strength unto his people” and “bless his people with peace.” Psalm 29:11

God wants people who hear and obey – believe it.  Christ is the engineer and designer, he wants to empower and educate His own so they may be able to perform His will and His tasks of faith by means of obedience to His directions. He will make his voice heard and His will be known to those who seek it. You can stake your faith on it. ”And I have other sheep that are not of this fold: I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice” Jn 10:16  God wants all his people to hear His voice. This is one of the great ministries of the Holy Ghost; to allow us to hear the voice of Christ which tells us what is the Will of the Father. This instruction by His voice, in every matter so small or great, is the only means by which one can find their way in this dark world.

“To him Jesus the porter opens; and the sheep hear His voice and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leads them out.
   And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his VOICE.” Jn. 10:3-4

It’s an insult to God if a true believer doubts that God will make his voice known loud and clear to him or her. Is the voice of the Devil stronger than the voice of God? Is the voice of the “world” stronger than the voice of the Spirit? Is the voice of our own flesh stronger than the voice of Jesus Christ? Though our voice and the voice of the world and of the Devil resounds continually in our heart throughout the day, it is strong only to those who do not listen; for the spiritual person will quell their own voice and squelch the voice of the world and the Devil, in favor of hearing the Holy Spirit’s vibrant and gracious words of Jesus.

Spiritual exercise, trials and tribulations, experience, God’s admonishments, and His chastisement, all work to increase our discernment about hearing His voice,  enabling those who care to, recognize and reject all other voices (spirits). Jesus said, “My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it.” Lk 8:21

The Psalmist said, “Seek the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Prov 3:5 Remember hope is not faith; because “faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God.” Don’t fall into the traps of presumption telling God what His word says and demanding He apply it when, where, and how you think it should be applied. This is the egregious mistake of all fundamentalists. Living by faith is obedience. Want to be Jesus’ brother, sister, or as His mother? Hear the word of God and do it. It is all accomplished in the Holy Spirit.

Solomon summarized his search for wisdom and the true way of life in the book of Ecclesiastes when he summarized the whole matter by writing: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Eccl. 12:13 Implied in his final word was: We should live by faith and do what He says.

Faith is key to pleasing God,

“For by it the elders obtained a good report.” Heb 11:2