I’m now going to explain the distinctive life style that results from hearing God’s voice. People who learn to hear God’s voice lead a life that’s different from other people. They just can’t be the same. I want to return to a scripture that I quoted in the previous days, Matthew, chapter 4, verse 4. Jesus is answering Satan’s temptation to turn the stones into bread in the desert and this is what is written:
“But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’’“
The word there is rhema, every rhema that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The verb 'proceeds' is in the continuing present tense. Hearing God’s voice indicates a direct personal relationship with God. We’re in tune with God right there, right then. It’s not past; it’s not future; it’s here and now, in the present. That’s the continuing, proceeding Word of God for that given moment, for that given time, for that given situation. That’s what we live on. Jesus was speaking and comparing that rhema with bread. He said, “Man doesn’t live by bread alone but he lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” And this comes only through the Holy Spirit.
You see, if you hold a Bible in front of you, all you have, actually, is white sheets of paper with black marks on it. You can’t hear that. No one can hear black marks on white paper. It’s impossible. How can that ever become a voice, a spoken word that you can hear? There’s only one power in the universe that can turn those black marks on white paper into the voice of God and that power is the Holy Spirit.
So you see, we’re totally dependent on the Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit who brings to us in any given situation the rhema, the Word of God that we need, that quickens it, that imparts life to it, that makes it a living voice. And so, through hearing that Word of God, we are related to God, the Holy Spirit. It’s God, the Holy Spirit, who’s guiding us and directing us all the way, every day by the rhema that He gives us.
Father, thank You for Your Holy Spirit, Who makes Your Word real and alive for me. Help me to be sensitive to Your Spirit, to be alert to His nudging, and open my eyes when I read Your Word, and my ears so I may hear Your voice. In Jesus’ Name, amen!
