New Testament Faith: Part Six
Hearing the voice of God is not just for pastors and teachers or apostles and elders but is promised to all believers or as Jesus said, to His sheep:
The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3b
If you’re reading the book of Acts with me you may have noticed that Peter is out of the picture now and Paul takes center stage. Ministry is a new thing to him and, as it is with all believers, maturing in faith takes time and experience. When I say ‘hearing the voice of God’ I don’t mean the audible voice of God but a sense of the Spirit’s leading as Paul experienced in Acts 16.
The Holy Spirit was actively leading Paul in a unique way; He prevented or denied access to the direction Paul wanted to go. The time wasn’t right for Asia, there was lurking danger, and the Spirit didn’t allow him to go there. How did that happen? Your guess is as good as mine but Paul instinctively knew. That’s true for us as well; we desire to do one thing, we think it’s right, but the Spirit says ‘no’ or ‘not now’ and the doors tightly close. Learning to be led by the Spirit is listening to Him, discerning His direction, and judging whose voice we’re hearing: our own, God’s, or Satan’s? New Testament faith is confident we’ve heard His voice, He knows our name, and leads us in the right direction.
In 16:9 we read that Paul had a vision and concluded where to go; how easy was that? Typically we don’t have such clear direction in everyday life but it caused Paul to draw a conclusion. That Greek word is fascinating: it means to join together or intertwine like knitting. Paul undoubtedly heard about John 10 when Jesus promised we’d hear His voice and after the vision concluded where God wanted him to preach the gospel. Let’s see, Jesus’ promise, disallowed from going to Asia, and now a vision. Yep, it’s off to Macedonia.
What about us? How do we discern the voice of God from all the others?
… that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ … from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. Colossians 2:2, 19b
Ahhhh, it’s the Body of Christ, the church, that helps us discern the voice of God. Our involvement in the local church, being knitted together with other believers, helps us conclude God’s will with confidence in the Spirit’s direction. We’re meant to give and receive encouragement, understanding, and grow together in New Testament faith. God’s plan for the church is to intertwine with other believers, like a crocheted blanket, and it doesn’t happen online but through fellowship.
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