The Voice

"Jesus said: 'My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.  . . No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of my Father's hand. The Father and I are one.' "-[John 10: 27-30].

On the popular TV show, The View, Joy Behar ridiculed Christians for saying that they "hear Jesus' voice."  Bear said, "It's one thing to talk to Jesus. It's another thing  when Jesus talks to you." She went on to say that hearing voices is "a mental illness."

I have to say that when I decided to join my church, and my pastor was talking me through the process, he told me how to pray. After a few attempts at this practice, I ran back to him, "spooked" because I was getting answers! He chuckled and said, "Oh. I think you'll get used to it."

This "conversation" with Jesus is called Prayer. We humans may feel so limited that we believe that a conversation with Jesus is merely a one-way dialogue. We beg Jesus for forgiveness, or for personal favors, such as enough money to pay the bills, or an A+ on a test - but many of us are completely astonished when Jesus actually answers!

I have been meditating upon what Jesus' Voice is like, or what He is conveying?

Could I get confused if His Voice seems to point me in one direction, only to find it may be a false turn?

Certainly, Paul talks about the cacophony of voices in the world that can mislead or even wound. In
1 Corinthians 13: 1, Paul says, "If I speak in the tongues of men and angels but have not Love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."

I am finding that the simplest way to discern if God is working through someone or if He is telling me which way to turn, IS THAT - when the message is not rooted in Love, it is not God!

These days, so-called friends have said some cruel things to me.  They berate me or are unkind or they judge over things they know nothing about. If I listened to everything the world told me to do, or told me about myself, I would be spinning and twisting as if buffeted by dangerous winds from all directions.

Becoming a Christian, growing as a Christian, is a long, hard walk. My pastor explained to me that we all have the Holy Trinity inside of us. The longing for God - Something or Someone greater and more eternal than ourselves- is innate; and we possess the capacity for His unconditional Love deep within us.

But anger, jealousy, bitterness, impatience and so forth threaten the fulfillment of that unconditional Love. When I hear those cruelties, I have a visceral response, because that is not what God wants for me, and that is not God speaking to me!

I have been whipped around by the viciousness of the world lately. Someone makes one small, unintentional mistake or utters something unwittingly insensitive, and that person is driven to the edge of society. This viciousness is flamed by social media and lives on forever in the cloud. The person who erred is never forgiven and never allowed to redeem himself.

But then again, complete strangers have spoken the Word of God to me, have lifted me up with their kindness and wisdom.

That is, that must be Jesus' Voice! That Love and compassion is what I shall follow:

"I heard the voice of Jesus, say, 'I am this dark world's Light; Look unto me, thy morn shall rise, and all thy day be bright. I looked to Jesus, and I found in Him my Star, my Sun; And in that Light of life I'll walk, Till traveling days are done." -[Hymn: "I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say."]

[Related Postings: "She Talks To God", 4/23/18; "The Shepherd's Voice", 5/8/17; "Hearing the Shepherd's Voice", 4/19/16".]

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2019. All Rights Reserved.