12/31/11
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WHY CAN’T I HEAR GOD?
Have you had the experience where you’ve heard others speaking of how they hear God talking to them, but you haven’t ever heard Him? Sure you sometimes know what God would like from you because of reading the Bible or hearing a good sermon. But what you hear others speak of sounds like something more. And you’d like to experience that too! Or perhaps you used to be able to hear God speak to you; but lately it seems He’s gotten quiet for some reason, and you’re wondering what’s wrong.
It is my belief, based on Bible study and on personal experience, that there are three main causes that keep us from hearing God. 1) Lack of Desire. 2) Unrepented Sin. 3) Demonic Interference. If you’re not hearing God the way you wish to, then sincerely examine each of these three points to see if one of them is affecting you. I believe that if each of these areas is ok, you’ll hear Him.
The first point, Lack of Desire, is based on the principle that God respects our free will. It is often the case that people don’t really want to hear God talking to them. For one thing, just the thought of it is scary. For another, people are afraid He might ask them to do something they don’t want to do. To you this may sound funny; but it is a legitimate concern.
God always challenges us to move beyond our current level of spiritual development. This involves taking us out of our comfort zone and asking us to accept new ideas. Most life-time Christians, and well-established denominations, don’t like anything outside long-held teachings. It doesn’t really matter to them that the old ways are powerless. They are satisfied with what they have, and they don’t want anything more.
So when you begin thinking that you’d like to hear God talk to you, you need to ask yourself if you’re sure that’s what you really want. Know this — when He does talk to you, there comes accountability to do what He says; even if it’s challenging. In other words, don’t ask Him to talk to you if you’re going to reject what He says.
The second point, Unrepented Sin, is based on the verse in Is 59:2, “Your sins have hid His face from you.” When you have a sin you’re holding, your conscience doesn’t want to be exposed to God’s purity and holiness. It isn’t that God doesn’t want to see us; we don’t want to see Him.
At Creation, after God made Adam & Eve, one of the first things He did was establish a daily meeting time where the three of them could get together and enjoy their relationship. Once Adam & Eve sinned, God didn’t stay away; He came to the Garden to spend time with them just as they had been doing. Instead, it was Adam & Eve who avoided coming to the meeting; they hid from God because they were ashamed, and didn’t want to expose their sin to Him. It’s the same with us: if we have sin in our lives, something within us will try to hide from God. So when you set yourself to hear God, you must examine your life carefully to make sure that all sin is identified and confessed. Start with the things you know you do wrong; then move to the things that you suspect, but aren’t sure; finally, ask the HS to reveal to you those things which God doesn’t like but which you don’t yet recognize as wrong. Then decide that hearing God is important enough to you to give up even your most favorite sins.
The third point, Demonic Interference, is based on the verse in Jn 10:10 that tells us the objective of Satan is “to kill and steal and destroy”. This is much easier for him to do if he can keep us separated from our protector and our source of strength. This separation not only prevents us from attacking him, it weakens our resistance to his attacks against us. In other words, separation from God removes both our offense and defence against Satan.
Satan’s three goals regarding us are: 1) to prevent us from knowing our God; 2) to prevent us from escaping slavery to sin; and 3) to prevent us from becoming fully empowered to fight against him. So to effect these goals he tries to block our communication with God. Satan may attempt to convince us not to even try talking to God by making us think we’re unworthy, or think that God is too angry to speak with us, or think that we don’t really want to hear from Him anyway. We must reject every lie meant to make us afraid of God and to keep us from talking with Him.
Or, if tricks and lies don’t work, he may have his demons position themselves around us in such a way as to make a barrier between us and God. Their spiritual wall or barrier is meant to keep us from hearing God or perceiving His presence. We’re then left wondering why we can’t hear God like we wish to.
We can break down this barrier easily by commanding the demons to leave us and stop blocking our communication. But we often suffer their interference quite a while before it occurs to us that something is wrong, and we fight against it. Once you rebuke a blocking spirit you should feel immediately that it has left and the barrier is gone. They don’t have much resistance against you. They are primarily stealthy and seek to stay below your level of awareness. So you have to make a point of staying alert to any reduction in your communication with God; and when it occurs, address it promptly.
Once again, if you aren’t hearing God speak to you in a personal way that is clear and is recognizable as Him, then check each of these three points for a possible problem. Have you rejected all blocking spirits? Have you renounced all known sin? Do you truly wish to hear God and do as He asks? If you’re clear in these three areas, you will hear God. Please recognize, He strongly desires to speak with you. He wishes to establish with us the daily communication and personal relationship that He once had with our First Parents in the Garden of Eden. God wants to talk to you. Do you want to hear Him?
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