This week, a teacher left me a voicemail, but did not identify himself. After a few words, however, I recognized his voice. It was a voice of a man I worked with several years ago, but haven’t worked with for the past years - but I still recognized his voice. I have noticed on Zoom, I recognize lots of voices. It amazes me how I pick up on the voices of people with whom I’ve had various levels of interaction, but even without video I recognize their voice. It’s all fine and good that I recognize the voices of the people I know, but do I recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit? Do I recognize His gentle whisper guiding me throughout my days? Do I hear everything God says to me? Am I listening? Another very important question is, do I recognize the voice of the enemy? Yes, Satan has a voice, too. He speaks lies into my mind, he makes me question what God said. He is the deceiver, and he seeks to destroy. We see in Genesis 3, that Satan had a whole conversation with Eve. He initiated the conversation with a question, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” She apparently didn’t realize his method of trickery. He caused her to question God. He made God seem ridiculous, “Did God really say...?” His question begs the side-eye emoji! His word made it seem like God was withholding a good thing. Rather than responding, “Get behind me Satan,” Eve continued the conversation and entertained the ideas suggested by the evil one. We all know what happened later. While I’m recognizing voices, I must make sure that I also recognize Satan’s voice - it’s real. He tells me I am not good enough, not important enough, I am unworthy, that I won’t succeed. He tells me I shouldn’t waste my time doing the things God told me to do! He tells me I shouldn’t look into my future and see prosperity or greatness. He tells me I am not loved, that I am kidding myself. Satan’s voice is dark, it is deceiving, and it only speaks lies. I’ve found that the only way to quiet Satan, is that I must choose to listen to the other constant voice - the voice of God. God’s voice comes as a gentle whisper - so soft, so gentle that I could easily not even hear it. In fact, there are times, I probably didn’t hear it, but because of my faith, I know it was there. There have been a couple of times when I heard His voice while reading His word It happened once when I was reading John 15 about the vine, and another time when I was at revival and the minister opened with Psalm 23. There have been other times, too, when I heard the unmistakable voice of my Heavenly Father, but those two instances I specifically recall as I was also reading Scripture. On each occasion, I recall only hearing a headline, but when we read Genesis 6, we see that God speaks much more than headlines. He didn’t just tell Noah to build an ark, He gave him the details.
Imagine what would have happened if Noah had only heard the headline! The ark may not have had enough space for all of his family and the animals! What if Noah didn’t hear, or didn’t listen to God’s instructions about using Cypress wood or coating it with pitch? The ark may have taken on water, or it may not have floated when the water began to rise! Destruction could have been the result.
Take time today to decipher the many different voices you encounter each day. There’s the voice of your spouse, your children, people at work, people on social media, there’s Satan’s voice and there’s God’s voice. Be sure you know the difference. Take time each day, quiet time, during which you can spend time with the Lord and concentrate on His voice. You won’t hear it over the other noise. Or you will hear it, but maybe just the headline, and that’s not enough for you to do His full will. Are you listening? God is speaking and what He says to you is just for you. Amen. Print as PDF Thank you for reading today! Slow down this week and listen to the voice of your Heavenly Father. Kim
2 Comments
D. Floyd
10/18/2020 09:38:23 am
Good morning! Thanks for that reassurance. All last week the conversations had the word listen in it. The word has always been there but the question was or is our we listening? I get so excited when the word is reaffirmed. Thanks for the word and yes I am listening!!! Great word!!
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Alex Fair
10/18/2020 11:20:46 am
This Word was right on Time and very Fulfilling to my Spirit! AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!
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