People often ask Why doesn’t God speak to me? or How can I hear from God?

One of the things that strikes me about this passage is that after Paul had this vision, he knew he had heard from God. He didn’t wonder about it.

How did Paul develop such confidence in recognizing the voice of the Lord?

You might say Well, he was an apostle. He was different.  But that’s letting ourselves off the hook too easily.

It’s true that not all believers are apostles, and it’s true that apostles have a special calling, but it’s not true that only apostles can hear from God with confidence. Intimacy with God is part of our inheritance as children of God through Jesus.

Jesus said My sheep hear my voice. He didn’t say Only apostles hear my voice.

So when we ask How did Paul develop such confidence recognizing the voice of the Lord?  we are really asking How can we develop this same confidence?

This is a really important practical issue in the lives of believers, and the Bible has a lot to say about it, but it’s not all in the same place. So we’re going to start with this passage in Acts 16 and then move around a bit.

1. Relationship
   • Paul had a relationship with God through Jesus Christ
   • He knew that his life was not his own, he belonged to God (1 Cor. 6:19,20)
   • He expected God to direct his steps. He was used to this. This was how he lived.
   • He knew God loved him and that he could call on the Lord and God would respond
2. Knowledge of the Word of God
   • Paul had internalized the word of God.
   • He had studied the Torah for years under Gamaliel.
   • He had a grid for evaluating what came to him from other sources.
   • He knew the basic principles of the Word very well. Deuteronomy 6:4-5
3. Belief System
   • His belief system told him that the spiritual world was real (Acts 23:6-9)
   • His belief system also told him that God was interested in communicating with His people
   • His belief system gave him an understanding of God’s overall purposes and plan
   • His belief system told him that God could speak in non-rational ways (Acts 23:6-9)
     1. This is a very important point. Scripture is full of references to God speaking in non-rational (right-brain) ways
     2. Christians who only understand rational, logical thought have no grid for much of what is in the Bible
   • What God shows you through the Spirit will not make sense to your rational mind
     1. It does not necessarily contradict reason
     2. But it often bypasses it
     3. Example (from when I was praying for Joe and Carmen)
4. Motivation and purpose
   • Paul was fully committed to obeying the Lord.
   • He was engaged in doing the will of God to the best of his ability.
   • He had been sent out on this mission trip by the Holy Spirit and commissioned by the church (Acts 15:36-41).
   • Willingness to obey keeps the channel clean
5. Surrender of the will
   • He was submissive to the Holy Spirit. Verses 6-7
   • He was willing to be led
6. Hope
   • Paul had a strong hope in the goodness of God to him, and he knew he could not be separated from God’s love. (Romans 8:35-39)
   • It’s very difficult to hear messages of encouragement from God if you live under a cloud of negativity, self-condemnation or fear
   • A healed heart is a key to hearing from God accurately (or hearing from him at all)
   • An unhealed heart can lead you into deception in one of two ways
   • It can make you blind, deaf and dumb to God’s messages of love (often because of fear)
   • It can also lead you to deceive yourself into believing that God is saying things that he’s not saying at all (again, often because of fear or other negative motivations)

It all comes down to how you see yourself and how you see God

1 John 2 – children, young men, fathers

To have confidence that you are hearing from God accurately and consistently

• You need to have a belief system that allows you to hear from God
• You need to have an understanding of God’s ways
• You need to have a healed heart
• You need to be actively engaged in God’s purposes

Stories

1. Church planting (1991), wanted to hear from God, how I deceived myself and hurt some good friends (and how God ultimately instructed and rescued me, and restored the relationship)
2. How God sustained me to pray for Joe and Carmen (2015)- what God told me about how to pray for her. Why this was important. Why I knew it was the voice of God.