How well do you hear God’s voice?

If Jesus promised that His sheep will hear His voice, and recognize that it’s Him (John 10:4-5). This should be our experience today. He doesn’t speak audibly to most of us, but He does speak clearly to our heart—if we’re listening.

When Jesus began to teach His disciples about prayer, He told them to go into a room (Matthew 6:6), the word He used was tameion which is sometimes translated “closet.” In the Greek of His day, tameion referred to a bedroom, the most private room of a home where intimacy developed between husband and wife. Jesus didn’t mean we must go into a bedroom or closet, but that we should follow His example and find time to be alone, in solitude with God (Matthew 14:23). By using the word tameion, Jesus is telling us that when we find such uninterrupted time to be alone with God, we can develop a relationship of intimacy with Him, intimacy of the heart and soul.

Quiet time alone with God provides an atmosphere in which we can best hear His voice, most often as we are prayerfully reading His Word. It doesn’t matter where or when we have this time, but we must make it a daily priority if we want to develop the communion of an intimate personal relationship with Him. Our service for Him, no matter how energetic and demanding, is no substitute. There is no substitute.