We tend to think of hearing God’s voice as the preserve of prophets.
Speak Lord
Ezekiel’s calling came with the assurance that God would speak to him (Ezek 2:1f) and the young Samuel was encouraged by his mentor to say, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Sam 3:9).
But every disciple of Christ should aspire to be led in this way. My own Christian life (and that of my wife Linda) has been littered with promptings – and even personal prophecies and visions – which have transformed our lives.
Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd, and his followers as his sheep, or flock, who know his voice, and instinctively follow him.
I believe the key to Christian discipleship is the ability to hear the voice of God and respond to his call. And that takes some doing amidst all the hurried noise and clamour of today’s world.
I believe the key to Christian discipleship is the ability to hear the voice of God and respond to his call.
Most Christians I know can relate many experiences where they heard the voice of God, imperceptibly in their inner being or even audibly on occasions.
God’s garden
Yvonne Wooster, whom I met recently after speaking to a congregation on the Lincolnshire coast, has a wonderful testimony of God’s leading, as she shared with me after hearing my talk on the roots of the Christian faith for which I used some gardening illustrations.
Jesus described himself as the vine, and his Father as the Gardener (John 15). As it happens, we had just heard of the death of teacher/evangelist Colin Urquhart who played a significant role in Yvonne’s conversion.
She had always believed, but had never had a personal relationship with God or truly understood why Jesus died on the cross.
But soon after attending a meeting at Grimsby docks addressed by Colin 40 years ago, where she prayed earnestly for the sort of God-encounter the preacher was describing, Yvonne had a vision – of a garden!
But there was a sign, in capital letters – THE GATEWAY TO GOD’S GARDEN – indicating that there was only one way to enter.
Signs from heaven
Meanwhile her six-year-old daughter had brought home from school a text a friend had given her, reading, “I am the door” (referring to Jesus’ words in John 10:7 & 9, also translated as ‘gate’). And as Yvonne was retrieving some clothes from a wardrobe, a piece of paper fluttered down to her feet. It was a print of Holman Hunt’s famous Light of the World painting of the Lord Jesus knocking on the door (of our church, or our individual hearts, as depicted in Revelation 3:20), with an explanation on the back that it could only be opened from the inside. In other words, Jesus will never force his way into our lives.
“So I came to realise that the only way into the garden was Christ himself,” Yvonne recalled.
She was then given a vision of Christ dying on the cross, and realised that he had gone through all that suffering for her – and all who would trust in his blood shed for their sins.
Normal Christian life
Her journey to faith could be traced back to when she ‘heard’ God assuring her that he had everything under control at a time when her family were moving house. With the economy in trouble, it was a particularly bad time for selling property. Yet in the end, they had not one, but two cash offers for their home.
And so they moved from Colchester to Lincoln where, at an Anglican church she started attending, Yvonne was struck by the testimony of a visiting speaker from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
Remember that, at that stage, she hadn’t fully understood the Christian faith despite believing in the reality of Jesus, so she was particularly intrigued to find out how the gospel was ‘propagated’ – yet another gardening term. The speaker in question also passed on her copy of Colin Urquhart’s book When the Spirit Comes (another of his books was called My Father is the Gardener).
“When I read it, I realised that this was the life every person who identified as a Christian should lead – so vibrant and alive. I had certainly heard of the Holy Spirit, but had no idea who he was… I also read a book which Colin said had changed his life – The Normal Christian Life, by China’s Watchman Nee. I then realised that the Christian life was anything but normal!”
Yvonne has never looked back, and today she’s part of a vibrant fellowship in Grimsby called the Scartho Celebration Church.
Listen to the shepherd
Yvonne has truly found her place in God’s glorious garden and as part of his flock for whom he cares. Jesus said that his sheep “listen to his voice…and follow him because they know his voice”, adding: “I am the gate (or door) for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved… The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:1-10).
Hearing the voice of God is our greatest need in these very challenging days.
Being part of Jesus’ flock is the most secure place to be. As I said, my wife and I have both followed the promptings of God over many years, and they have been so life-changing. Sometimes they have come in the form of personal prophecies and visions (Acts 2:17), working wonders in our lives. We were actually brought together in that miraculous way, which forever serves to remind us that God is in ultimate control, and can be totally trusted.
Just one of many examples was the time a fellow believer, clearly moving in the Spirit and knowing nothing of Linda’s situation, told her to forgive her father. As a result, her father found Jesus and became very dear to her.
Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Hearing the voice of God is our greatest need in these very challenging days.