Text:

‘Then Samuel answered, Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening’ – 1 Samuel 3:10 Amplified Version

Thought:

When a work colleague first spoke to me about Christianity and having a personal faith in Jesus Christ, he said, “You’ve seen what the world can offer you, why don’t you give God a chance?” I remember being challenged by that question. I was impressed that he believed in a God who would know when I was giving Him that chance, and also that God would be interested in me with five and a half billion other people in the world.

So I accepted his invitation to attend church, secretly thinking, “I’ll go once, won’t like it and will never go again!” Yet two days later I found myself in that church service praying, “Lord I want what they’ve got.” God answered that prayer and that night in February 1973 I became a Christian.

Since then I’ve made another amazing discovery – that God wants to talk to me! Far too many Christians only experience a one-way communication with God. Yet right from the beginning of creation He has wanted to talk to us. The Bible records that in the Garden of Eden, God would come down in the cool of the day to talk to Adam and Eve. ¹ God called Abraham His friend and made a covenant with him, telling him things that were about to happen. ² God said about Moses, ‘I speak with him face to face.’ ³

Now, it’s easy to think God has favourites and only speaks to a chosen few. Yet Jesus promised that believers in Him would hear His voice. ⁴  The Bible is full of instances of when God spoke to people in order to teach them His ways, protect and provide for them, revealing Himself to them in a very real and personal way. I’m sure that every person would like to hear God speaking to them, so are there things they can do to help this to happen?

• Read the Bible

When I pray I talk to the Lord, but reading the Bible helps God to talk to me. A Bible verse or passage feels like it’s come alive, as if God is saying it for the first time. Many Christians have little or no time for Bible reading and consequently shut out a major opportunity for God to speak to them.

If we read all of the Bible, we can’t then presume what scripture God will use, which makes it all the more exciting and unexpected. We’re quick to read someone else’s story, don’t forget God’s story. Discipline yourself to start reading the Bible every day.

• Recognise God’s Voice

Young Samuel was awakened by a voice calling to him, yet kept mistaking it for Eli’s. It was only after Eli realised it was God’s voice, that he advised Samuel to say, ‘Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening.’ Sometimes we need help to recognise when God is speaking. We can seek advice from mature Christians. A lady had become a Christian, but this put a strain on her marriage as her husband wanted nothing to do with it. Arguments developed, although prayer was being made for the situation to change. One day when he was painting their bedroom, he heard a voice say, “Pick up your wife’s Bible!” Startled, he did so and when he opened it, he felt God challenge him from the first verse that he read. A little while later he was on the phone to me, saying “Can I come and see you?” That day he put his faith in Jesus, praying “Lord thank you for what You’ve started, please continue.” Not everyone will have such a dramatic experience, but it can be just as real to hear God speaking on a regular basis.

• Respond to what God tells you to do

There’s little point in God speaking to you, if you ignore what He says. A minister once told me, “God has been telling me to move for the past two years but I haven’t obeyed yet!” I replied that I would be ashamed to say I had been disobedient for such a long time. When he did eventually move, God blessed his efforts to evangelise, and a few years later he entrusted the few he had gathered to a new minister who established a strong and vibrant church. Jesus said, ‘Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say?’ ⁵

• Realise that God will never speak to you contrary to what the Bible says

People, even Christians have weird and wonderful ideas that conflict with the Bible, yet think they are from God. ⁶ A good maxim to live by is this, “If I and the Bible disagree, I am wrong!” How churches would radically change if every Christian put that into practise. Unity instead of division, forgiveness instead of anger, and love instead of selfishness. At times, it’s not easy to live as a Christian, it can cost everything, even life itself. Yet it’s always worth it!

• Finally

The book of Revelation records Jesus sending a message to each of the seven churches mentioned. Every one ended with these words, ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ⁷ Christians have spiritual ears just as they have physical ones. These are given so we can hear what God has to say to us. Let our response be like Samuel, ‘Speak Lord, for I am listening and ready to do Your will!’

¹ – Genesis 3:8

² – Isaiah 41:8

³ – Numbers 12:8

⁴ – John 10:27

⁵ – Luke 6:46

⁶ – Proverbs 14:12, Isaiah 55:6-9

⁷ – Revelation 2:7