When God speaks and we obey

It is wonderful to hear about the outreaches to our Malawi branch, the schools in the Eastern Cape and how our school can be a testimony amongst the many schools that we are involved with. The Gospel is amazing.

As we have listened to how God is working in different places, don’t you want to be part of the winning team? God the Creator of heaven and earth, the One who holds everything in His hand, is working. We see, hear and experience it – what are you waiting for? What more do you want to see and hear before you make your decision?

I thought I would just share a few thoughts.

John 10:24 – 3024 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”

If I can ask you, what is the most important thing for you? When you wake up in the morning, what is your first thought. During the day – what is important to you?

Some time ago I listened to an interview with one of the richest people in the world. He was asked, ‘what is your first thought when you wake up in the morning?’ Without hesitation he said, ‘how can I make more money?’ I am sure that is the thought that drives him through the whole day.

I remember once we were with uncle Ernie Engelbrecht. He asked us, tell me, what are the most important things in a Christian’s life. We thought and shared our answers. Then he said something that has always stayed with me. He said, ‘My sheep hear My voice’.

If you think of it – it is the solution to everything. What can go wrong if you hear and obey God’s voice? If I hear His voice, He will guide me, tell me what to do, encourage and correct me. If I make a mistake, which we all do, He will be there to say, My child, not like this. He will give me the strength to do His work.

However, here we find some people, we don’t know who they were, whether they were Pharisees or normal citizens, they asked Jesus this question. Whether they really wanted to know, we can’t say, whether they mocked him, maybe some truly didn’t understand.

The Christian life without God speaking to us is worth nothing. We will keep stumbling and going back to our old life. How can we stop sinning if the Holy Spirit is not in our life convicting us and helping us?

Ask yourself this question: is it my aim to hear God’s voice, and do I hear Him? Can I say, He spoke to me. Naturally I have no direction, I know nothing as I don’t even know what will happen in the next 5 minutes. Our all-knowing God can help me as He knows me as well as the next person, He knows the future too. But if God is with me, He can show me and He can warn me of dangers ahead and He helps me discern what is right and what is wrong.

Over the last few weeks I have read many verses where you read that it is absolutely crucial for a Christian to hear God’s voice. If this is not my aim every day, from when I wake up and throughout the day to be led by God, then I will be like just any other nominal believer. So I have realised that it is of utmost importance that we say, Lord I want you in my life, I need Your Holy Spirit to teach and guide me.

There is such a thing that you live a life of knowing what you should do, even living according to what others tell you to do. Then you can try to always be friendly and live as you ‘should’ live. But without Christ at your side, you will make one mistake after another. If Christ is not ruling your life, the devil is ruling it. If He is not speaking to you, someone else is speaking to you.

Dear Christian, it is of utmost importance, that we reckon with Christ speaking to us personally. And at the same time, we must speak to Him. It must not be a one-way conversation. We need to speak to Him as openly as to a good acquaintance.

Try and pray earnestly and you will be surprised at what God can do. Sometimes He speaks to you, giving you direction. Is it visible that the Holy Spirit is in your life? Is it visible that He leads you? It can’t be if you say the Lord is leading me, I am His sheep, but you continue in your sin.

Of course, sin grieves the Holy Spirit. I remember Rev Stegen explained to us like this – when you go to a restaurant and you buy a cooldrink. They first fill the glass with ice right to the top, then they pour in the cooldrink. If you take out all the ice, there will just be a little drink in your glass. He said, the ice is like sin in your life. The cooldrink is like the Holy Spirit, the more ice you have, the less the Holy Spirit can dwell in you. If we want the Holy Spirit to speak to us we need to have clean lives, we need to remove that which is between us and Him.

He speaks here of His sheep. There are many characteristics of a sheep. Sheep need a shepherd. They have no sense of or purpose direction. In the same way, we have no sensible direction, but God must lead us.

Sheep are known to recognise the voice of their Shepherd over time. Once they have learnt that, they will listen to nobody else.

Sheep are not beasts of burden. You don’t load sheep with things to carry, like other animals. I read something recently where  Spurgeon said. As you can take your sin to Christ and put it on Him and ask Him to forgive and forget it, why can’t you take your burden to Him in the same way? Lord, I can’t carry this, You carry it.

When He speaks we must be obedient. That is another characteristic of sheep – they are obedient. God will not continuously speak if you don’t listen to Him. Go and read in John 16. Then ask yourself, do I have that fellowship with Christ, am I His sheep? If you don’t know that, you haven’t experienced the Christian life yet.

May God be able to teach us. Just think of it, if everyone of us is guided by the Holy Spirit there would be no need for any of us to be told what to do. You would not have to say to a person, you have made a mistake, because God would do it. You will even have similar ideas and opinions, because God is leading all of us. If there is strife and arguments, most probably the Holy Spirit’s indwelling is missing.

Here Jesus explained to them why they are not His sheep. They don’t believe. Are you one of the sheep of Christ the shepherd? Can He lead and guide you and can people see that you are one of His sheep? Is He your shepherd? Are our lives such that people can see, no matter where we are, that we are one of His sheep?

And then the wonderful, wonderful thing, where Jesus says, if you follow Me and are obedient, you will never ever go lost.  Unfortunately many people misuse this verse. In churches where we grew up, they preached, once saved always saved. But here Jesus says, if you follow Me, if you do what I say, if you are attentive to me, then I will keep you.

Don’t think because you are young that you cannot hear God’s voice. God can speak to you. He can bring a thought, that is the right thing to do. He speaks through His word – you read it and you realise that this word or verse is for you. If we do that, we will never perish. The “perish” also refers to eternal iife not just in this world, but in eternity.

May this be true in our lives, that it is our greatest desire – Lord what do You want from me, please speak to me. I speak to Him, bring everything to Him, bring my burdens; I share with Him, and He speaks to me.