1. family and parenting
2. children

How to Know His Voice
How to Know His Voice
Copyright © 2006 Jonathan Alao
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by means of any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
author.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from
King James Version of the Holy Bible.
ISBN
FRESHWORD BOOK
P.O Box 26083, Kampala, Uganda
[email protected]
Cover page design by Ayodeji Onipede
[email protected]
+2348036696566
Cover photograph copyright © 2006 by Ayodeji Onipede
/Godseed Concept. All right reserved
CONTENTS
How to Know His Voice .................................................. 1
CONTENTS ............................................................... 3
DEDICATION ............................................................. 4
INTRODUCTION ......................................................... 5
THE PROBLEM OF TWO - CHALLENGES OF CHOICE ................ 7
HOW TO KNOW HIS VOICE............................................. 9
BE A SHEEP .............................................................10
How to Become a Sheep .............................................11
BELONG TO A SHEEPFOLD............................................13
Responsibilities of the Shepherd to the Sheep ...................14
Responsibilities of the Sheep........................................15
BLOW YOUR DEFENCE.................................................16
BREAK BREAD DAILY...................................................18
THE PEACE TEST.......................................................20
PRAYER SELECTIONS ..................................................20
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to Pastor Akin and Mrs. Biodun Ayoola for
funding its production. May the God of heaven richly bless you
and your children, in Jesus name, Amen.
INTRODUCTION
Hearing God’s Voices
A young man had been to a Wednesday night bible study. The
pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord’s
voice. The young man couldn’t help but wonder, “Does God still
speak to people?” After service he went out with some friends for
coffee and pie, and they discussed the message. Several different
ones talked about how God led them in different ways. It was
about ten o’clock when the young man started driving home.
Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, “God …if you still speak
to people, speak to me, I will listen, I will do my best to obey”.
As he drove down to the main street of his town, he had the
strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his
head and said out loud, “God is that you?” He didn’t get a reply
and started on towards home.
But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk came to him. The
young man thought about Samuel and how he didn’t recognise
the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. “Okay, God, in
case that is you, I will buy the milk”. It didn’t seem like too hard
a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped
and purchased the gallon of milk and started off towards home.
As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, “Turn
towards that street”. “This is crazy”, he thought and drove on
past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down
Seventh Street. At the next intersection, he turned back and
headed down to Seventh Street. Half jokingly, he said out loud,
“Okay, God, I will”.
He drove past several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he
should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He
was in a semi-commercial area of the town. It wasn’t the best
but it wasn’t the worst of neighbourhood either, the businesses
were closed and most houses looked dark, it seems the people
were already in bed. Again, he sensed something, “go and give
the milk to the people in the house across the street”.
The young man looked at the house, it was dark and it looked
like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He
started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat,
“Lord, this is insanity. Those people are asleep and if I wake
them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid”. Again
he felt like he should go and give the milk. Finally, he opened
the door, “okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will
give them the milk if you want me to look like a crazy person,
okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something
but if they don’t answer right away, I am out of here”.
He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear
some noise inside. A man yelled out, “Who is it? What do you
want?” then the door opened before the young man could get
away. The man was standing there in jeans and T-shirt. He
looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his
face and he didn’t seem too happy to have some stranger
standing on his doorstep. The young man thrust out the gallon of
milk, “here, I brought this to you” the man took the milk and
rushed down the hallway speaking Spanish.
Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk
towards the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby.
The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his
cheeks, saying “we had some big bills this month and we ran out
of money; we didn’t have any milk for our baby. I was just
praying and asking God to show me how to get some” his wife in
the kitchen yelled out, “I asked Him to send an angel with some,
are you an angel”. The man reached to his wallet and pulled out
all the money he had on him and put in the man’s hand. He
turned and walked back toward his car and tears were streaming
down his face. He knew that God still answers prayers.
Indeed God still answers prayers because “He giveth to the beast
his food, and to the young ravens which cry” (Ps.147: 9). Not only
does He hear, He speaks to His people. “I will hear what God the
LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to
his saints: but let them not turn again to folly”. (Ps.85:8)
THE PROBLEM OF TWO - CHALLENGES OF CHOICE
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”
(Jn.10: 27).
“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and
none of them is without signification” (1Cor.14: 10)
We hear all sorts of voices, but it is important that we know His
voice. This is the reason for writing this book. It may not answer
all your questions but I do believe it will do many a great deal of
good.
The greatest need of man is revelation, the need to know the
mind of God, the need to know that the things that you are doing
now that God approves. We encounter on many occasions with
what I call the problem of two, we are in a world of two, and we
are usually faced with two choices. The choice of good and evil,
there is no neutral ground. Jesus talked about the broad and the
narrow ways. We have two sexes, you are either a male or a
female, if you decide to be a female because of the prevalent
perversion, the truth remains, you are either male or female; you
can’t be both. The bible says “male and female he made them”
no room for hermaphrodite.
In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve about two trees,
the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Those
two trees represent the life of two; what I called the problem of
two, a problem which every man faces, the struggle between the
nature of God and the nature of Satan. Abel and Cain represent
those two natures, illustrating the two trees. It was Cain’s idea
for them to sacrifice to God, not Abel’s, the problem was that
Cain chose to worship God in his own terms. Cain represents
those of us who decide for God, how best you want to worship
Him. If he does not bless us, for example we may deny him
worship, no job no worship, no children no worship, no spouse no
worship. But Abel came to God on God’s terms, the bible says
“By faith Abel offered unto God” “But without faith it is
impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him” (Heb.11: 4a, 6).
When the bible says “He is” it does not necessarily mean He just
exists, but that He is consistent, faithful, steady, able to do
exceedingly above what we ask or think about.
Esau and Jacob is another example of the two trees and our
attitude to God’s word. Esau represents our inability to delay
temporary gratification for future glorification, we are shortsighted, willing to eat and die today and leave tomorrow to
chance. Jacob on the other hand had respect for the promises of
God, he had his weaknesses, but God was looking at what he
could become rather than what he was then, for he loved God’s
word so much that he fought to be blessed.
Ishmael and Isaac represent how we walk with God, Abraham had
a promise for a son, it took a while coming. He decided,
encouraged by his wife to have a child with her maid, Hagar. The
product of that union was Ishmael, which was a mistake, but
Isaac later came which was the long awaited miracle. The lesson
here, is despite the mistakes we have made in our attempt to
walk with God, we can still bounce back to our feet, because our
miracle is still guaranteed. God said to Abraham “walk before me
and be thou perfect”. We can still rise from our mistake and still
be perfect. Over and over again in the scriptures we see
representation of the two trees and which also represents our
challenge with choices, we hear about tare and wheat, sheep and
goat. In first Samuel chapter one, we had Hannah and Peninah;
Peninah was an adversary, the opposer, the provoker, and the
distracter. I terminate all adversaries to your making the right
choice or knowing His voice in Jesus name, Amen.
Among Jesus disciples, the eleven were on one hand while Judas
Iscariot was on the other, another example of these trees. In
Hebrews 4:2, the bible talked about the “us” and the “them”,
every church is made of both the “us” group and the “them”
group. The problem of two spans through scripture and
contemporary times, just as we have two trees, two natures, two
groups, so we are faced daily with choosing between at least two
options, making it necessary to know His voice.
HOW TO KNOW HIS VOICE
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the
door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the
same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter
openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own
sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4 And when he putteth
forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep
follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger will
they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the
voice of strangers. 6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but
they understood not what things they were which he spake
unto them. 7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All that ever
came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did
not hear them. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he
shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they
might have it more abundantly.11 I am the good shepherd:
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (Jn.10: 1-11)
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29
My Father, which gave him me, is greater than all; and no
man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and
my Father are one. (Jn.10: 27-30)
This portion of the scripture tells us about the shepherd, his
relationship with his sheep and the attitudes of a shepherd
compared to a hireling. A hireling is somebody that is hired to
work on behalf of a shepherd.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”
Many of us will love to follow, but the problem is that we do not
know His voice. I pray your ear will be awakened and anointed to
hear and know His voice, so you can follow him effectively in
Jesus name (Amen).
BE A SHEEP
To know his voice, you must first become a sheep. He said “my
sheep hear my voice”, this has nothing to do with your church
membership. The fact that you sleep in the garage for example
cannot turn you into a car, in the same way, the fact that you
are in church, baptised, confirmed, ordained or coronated will
not make you a sheep.
24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, the
kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man, which sowed good
seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and
sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when
the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then
appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the
householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow
good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? 28 He
said unto them, an enemy hath done this. The servants said
unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
(Mat.13: 24-28)
Jesus in this parable talked about the tares and the wheat. The
tare looks exactly like the wheat, making it difficult to
differentiate when they are still tender; secondly the tare has a
stronger root network than the wheat that was why the Goodman
in the parable asked his servants to leave both plants until the
harvest. If the servants root out the plants while tender they are
certainly going to root out the wheat along with the tare. At
harvest the tare stands tall because it does not have fruits but
the wheat bends under the weight of fruit; making it easy to
differentiate between the wheat and tares.
This parable among other possible interpretations, talks about
two groups of individuals, all in the same church, one group is
growing, developing and bearing fruit. The other group is just the
way they are all year round; no development and they are a bad
influence on others because of their highly developed network
system. Jesus said, “by their fruit ye shall know them”.
The parable also tells us about two harvests, the first harvest is
the binding of the tares. That is why you see all tithe defaulters,
fornicators, abuser of parents, etc, unknown to them that the
angel is putting them together for an eventual easy harvest for
the fire. Harvest has started already!
Jesus also told us the parable of the goats and the sheep, they
are both herbivores animal but have different attitude. A sheep
by nature is sheepish (meek) while a goat is stubborn and
difficult to lead.
How to Become a Sheep
You must be born again:
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God.”(Jn.3:5).
I once asked a young man “are you born again”; he said to me
“Pastor, you know we grew in church”. Loving the Lord and
serving him has nothing to do with being born again.
Being born again is an actual immediate birth experience.
Naturally, a woman does not deliver a baby over a week; bit-bybit, a baby is born and time of delivery recorded. A child was
born for example 12th July 1966 about 7.00 p.m.; the midwife has
a record of the exact time of birth. Spiritually also, you can have
a record of date and time of your spiritual birth.
To be born again means to born from above, to have the seed of
God implanted in you. In the natural a man sleeps with a woman,
contributes a sperm (seed), which is received by an egg (ovum).
This fertilised ovum is incubated in the uterus, grows to become
an embryo and later a baby.
Spiritually God sows a seed (His word) through His agents
(evangelists, preachers etc.), hits your spirit (heart). When you
receive this word (fertilisation) takes place, the Holy Spirit
incubates this word in your spirit, your spirit which was dead
(separated from God) comes alive! You are born again, by the
Spirit and water (the word).
“For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom.10: 8-13).
For he that is born of God, does not commit sin; because the
seed of God is in Him (1Jn.3: 8-10)
The first step to hearing His voice is to become a sheep by being
born again.
BELONG TO A SHEEPFOLD
Every sheep should belong to a sheepfold. They’re a lot of
freelance believers, who don’t belong anywhere. These are
dangerous group of people; these are a group of very
independent people who for fear of control chose to float, they
will quote that the bible says “where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty”, liberty here talks about the ability to
comprehend the word of God, because when the law was initially
read, there was a ‘veil’ over the understanding of the people;
but in Christ Jesus that veil is removed. That does not rule out
the need for dependence on one another, for we are one body
though with many interdependent and interrelated parts. God
made us in such away that we need each other.
Sheep by nature loves to company or flock together; it is unusual
for a sheep to stay away from the company. In the story of the
lost sheep, one strayed and the nine-nine remained. If they were
goats, surely, while the master went looking for the lost goat,
eighty more will scatter, but for the sheep ninety-nine remained
waiting for the saviour’s return. Sheep feel a need for each
other, a desire to be together. In the event of danger, the only
thing a sheep longs for is his master’s voice for direction. One
hymn writer in the hymn writes “I know his voice, it’s my Saviour
voice, oh, what a joy I feel when I hear His voice”. I pray that
you will hear His voice in the name of Jesus (Amen).
To hear His voice you must belong to a sheepfold. It is essential
to train your mind and heart to know His voice.
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the
more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Heb.10: 25).
“so when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto
him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto
him, feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him,
Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him,
feed my sheep. 17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he
said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said
unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I
love thee. Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep.” (John 21:1517)
This was post-resurrection account of Jesus interaction with His
disciple when he asked Peter “lovest thou me more than these?”
and Peter responded “Lord; thou knowest that I love thee” and
Jesus told him “feed my sheep”. The Lord repeated the questions
two more times, and he asked peter to feed His sheep and then
His lamb.
There are several lessons to draw out from this story; Peter
denied the Lord thrice in order to completely negate the previous
denials he had to confess him three times. More relevant to our
discussion is the fact that in a sheepfold you have different
groups of sheep, the first category is the bigger sheep; bull, cow
etc. The second group is the usual sheep and the third category
the lamb, which is a younger sheep less than one year old. If you
read through John chapter 10, which I also call the Shepherd
chapter, you will see basically a relationship between the sheep
and the shepherd and the responsibility of the shepherd to the
sheep.
Responsibilities of the Shepherd to the Sheep
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock,
over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to
feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his
own blood.” (Acts 20:28)
“ Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit
yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must
give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with
grief: for that is unprofitable for you. 18 Pray for us: for we
trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live
honestly.” (Heb. 13:17-18)
• To lay good examples
• To feed the flock (sheep)
• To give oversight to all the flock
• To pray for the sheep
• To rule (restrain, guide, lead) the sheep
• To be accountable to God and man for the flocks under
their oversight
• They should do their ministry with joy
• They function as a cover over the sheep which they have
oversight (Jn.10: 9-13)
Responsibilities of the Sheep
• To be sheepish –easily led
• To obey them that have rule over you
• To submit to their leaders
• To be accountable to their leaders
• To pray for their leaders
The relationship between the shepherd and the sheep, if
functional, will enhance the ability of a sheep to hear His voice.
Many problems many people face is because they chose not to
grow in a system where somebody is responsible for them and
they are not accountable to such a person. Everyone needs an
overseer!
BLOW YOUR DEFENCE
“They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and
they that murmured shall learn doctrine” (Is.29: 24)
A lot of people are afraid of being misled; they have this morbid
fear for error. Fear in all its forms is not of God, perfect love
cast out fear.
A sheep follows his shepherd sheepishly; many of us are too
clever and too critical to be led. In the process we end up not
knowing which direction to move. Despite our fears of being
misled, misunderstood, or being mistreated, if we are going to be
led by God, we must blow up our defence, trust the Lord with all
our hearts and lean not on our own understanding, in all our
ways, acknowledge him and he will direct our paths.
The scripture quoted in Isaiah 29:24, suggest the following
• One could make mistakes in spiritual matters
• One will be brought to understanding with time
• One may have confusion and doubts about certain issues
• One will be brought to maturity and clarity.
The reasoning here is, we should not be afraid to follow the
leadings we have received, even if it turns out wrong. You have
at least learnt one way not to be led. Rather than stay stationed
in one spot for fear of making error, you need to take a first
step, and God will work out the other steps. Many a time, the
fears of what others will say about us keep us stuck. “He who
thinks for another is a time waster” when you spend your time
thinking about what others are thinking about you, you are only
wasting your time.
There is nothing wrong in testing the waters. In my book, Divine
Direction, I wrote that godly counsel is one way God can lead us,
there is no harm in bouncing your thoughts with people you feel
safe with, either because of their maturity, training or exposure.
“For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in
multitude of counsellors there is safety”. (Pro.24: 6).
In blowing your defence, you are saying Lord I trust you even in
the face of seeming danger; I know my life is safe in your hands.
In the story involving the Wesley brothers (Charles and John) who
were in a ship with the Monrovia brothers, there was a threat of
a storm and every body in the ship was running helter-skelter,
Charles noticed this group of men, who were apparently not
moved by the prevailing circumstances, he went to them and said
“brethren are you not aware of what is happening, this ship is
about to be wrecked”. The Monrovians smiled to him and said to
him “our Father knows we are here”. “Throw us into the depth of
the sea our Father is aware about our whereabouts. We know
God can deliver us, but if he chose not to, we are still safe in His
hands”. That made a lot of impression on Charles. Some of us
need to come to the point where we can trust God with our lives
irrespective of what the physical looks like. Blow up your
defence!
BREAK BREAD DAILY
Finally, you must break bread daily. The bible tells us in Luke
24:30-31
“and it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took
bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. 31 And
their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished
out of their sight”
If you must know His voice, you must break bread daily. You must
have fellowship with the word, so that you can get used to
hearing His voice.
A young lady came into my counselling session after listening to
my radio program, and she told me her experience; she was going
through a difficult time. And one of those days, as she was
praying, something told her, read Isaiah 43:19. She did not know
what it was in Isaiah 43:19 “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it
shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in
the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” I told her that was
God’s voice to her situation, but she would not have known that
if she hadn’t broken bread. When you break bread, you know His
voice. Breaking of bread also has to do with fellowship with the
brethren. Heb.10: 25 say “not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one
another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
Let me tell you, for each meeting, God has unction. The unction
that God has yesterday is not the unction that God has for today.
So each time you come to a meeting God has something to say.
But until you break bread continually and continuously, you may
not know His voice. If you want to know His voice, you must
break bread. Hallelujah!
Sometime ago, in a communist enclave involved in mining
activities, there were gadgets that reads the condition of the
mine such that if there are threats of the mine collapsing it will
indicate on these appliances and the workplace attendant there
will press the buzzer and the miners will all run out for safety.
There was this young girl, a Christian who pressed the buzzer and
everybody ran out. But when the experts inspected the gadget,
there was no indication of threat on the gadget. They asked her
“Why did you cause this confusion?” While they were still
quarrelling with her, the mine collapsed, with the gadget giving
no indication and they asked her “how did you know it was going
to collapse?” she said “God told me”.
Beloved brethren, the bible says “you will hear a voice behind
you saying this is the way, walk thou in it” listen, if you want to
save yourself from calamities, dangerous trouble; you need to
hear His voice. Open your mouth in prayer and ask him to speak
to you.
THE PEACE TEST
(Adapted from Day by Day)
Have you ever noticed that, when you are in doubt, you are
easily swayed by the opinions of others, the circumstances
around you and the fears that the devil will bring to your mind?
Indecision can be deadly. Someone has said that “the most
dangerous place to be is in the middle of the road”. The
challenge for you today is to be decisive. Harry Truman said
“some questions cannot be answered, they must be decided”
most of the time we don’t have all the facts available about any
given situation, but we usually have all the facts we need to
make a decision. This is when we need to rely on God. Paul said,
“let the peace of God rule in our hearts” (Col.3: 15). The Greek
word for “rule” means “umpire”. You need an umpire to call the
close ones.
When God called Joshua, these are the words he gave him: “have
not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not
afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with
thee whithersoever thou goest.”(Jos.1: 9). He is speaking those
same words to you always. That is enough assurance to give you
peace. Indeed the peace of God gives you rest.
Have you compromised your peace through sin? There can be
restoration today. The peace of God can still flow as a river.
Brethren, the peace of God is to be preferred to any other thing
on earth.
PRAYER SELECTIONS
Let your peace flow into my heart, O Lord.
Pray that every evil thought against you be turned to good
THE PEACE OF GOD IS NOT THE SAME AS PEACE OF MIND
Other Books by the Author
Divine Direction
How to Live
Managing the Angel of Your Life
Who is Your Father
Seed of Destruction