Hearing God's Voice | Sarah Wehrli | EP 128

Well, I was thinking about this recently because lately I had this urge to declutter and I got my trash bag here tonight because some people call it spring cleaning, but you know, with three kids, they go through a lot. And I feel like sometimes they're growing out of their clothes constantly. Anybody else have that problem? So I went to each of their rooms and I start gathering up things that they had outgrown that were ripped or torn or things that were broken, things that were no longer useful. My little girl, Emma is three. So she is constantly, you know, moving out of things and growing out of things. So I'm bagging up all this stuff. And I think I got six bags of stuff. You know, I was ready to go to Goodwill and, you know, get rid of things. And I got so motivated. Anybody else like get in a motivation to clean and organize and declutter? Well, I got that drive. I haven't had that drive lately, but... I got that drive here this spring and I started clearing things out and then I got into my pantry and I'm like, oh my goodness, this is expired. This is expired. This is expired. Let's get rid of this and let's make space for the new fresh food for the family. Same thing with the refrigerator. I do that on a weekly basis. All right. So don't be worried. I don't do it annually, but I do it weekly. So I'm cleaning out the fridge to make space for the fresh food that I want to bring to my family. And this is no condemnation to those who have not cleaned out your fridge. That is not what this message is about. But what I began to think about is just like we declutter in the natural, our environment, to make space for new things or just to make space to breathe, we have to do the same thing in our hearts and in our minds on a regular basis. Right. especially when it comes to hearing from the Lord, because it's so easy to allow all the voices that are coming to us from the world, either through the news or through, you know, the media or just the busyness of life, stuff that isn't bad, that just is cluttering sometimes our hearts and our minds and vying for our attention. It's easy to just allow that to keep us from hearing what God is saying to us specifically. And so tonight you guys, obviously you're hungry. I mean, or else you wouldn't be here on a Thursday night, but tonight I want us to just think about making space on a regular basis to hear what the Lord is saying. Because when we make space and we make room and we declutter, uh, the things that are causing us to not hear from God, then we begin to hear clearly. And I really sense that the Lord is doing something new and fresh. Uh, In you, I really sensed it as I was praying for you. In fact, I felt as I was praying for you that there is a shift happening right now in this season in your life. And that the Lord, I'm going to read it because I don't want to mess up what the Lord was speaking to me about. I really believe there's a shift and a divine reset happening. in your heart and in your life right now, a reset in the spirit that this summer, as you are taking time to slow down and tune into him, he is going to refresh you. I just felt, I mean, obviously this, this group is called refresh, but he is going to refresh you. He's going to strengthen you. He's, you're going to receive fresh vision and clarity and and a new joy in your heart, in what God has called you to do in your assignment, in your motherhood, those of you that are mothers in whatever area that you're, you're, um, walking in. And the scripture that came to me was Isaiah 43, 18 and 19. He says, forget the former things. Don't dwell on the past. See, see by the spirit, see with eyes of faith. I am doing a new thing. He says, now it springs up. Do you perceive it? I'm making a way in the wilderness and I'm bringing streams in the desert. What I love about that, when I read that verse and studied that, the way in the wilderness is referring to God bringing direction for our life. He wants to bring direction. And then the streams in the desert are referring to God bringing refreshing and provision. God wants to do both. He wants to direct us, but he also wants to provide supernaturally and refresh us where we feel like we're in a dry and a weary land. And tonight you're being refreshed. And I want you to just see this place as an oasis and just see the Lord pouring into you, speaking to you, refreshing your soul. just like water in a dry land. Amen? I see that. And I believe the Lord, he wants to direct us in the little things and in the big things. But just like, how many of you remember these old radios? I still have one, but anybody have an old radio? Okay. Just like in an old radio, you would tune past the static to get to the clear station that you want to listen to. We have to do the same thing in our spirits and in our life. We have to tune out and, Okay, all these noises are happening. I'm going to tune out those things and I'm going to tune in to what God is saying. And that's what we're doing today. I think about when I was studying regarding this message in the Bible, I found that the word hear and listen is mentioned so many times. In fact, the word talk is only mentioned in the Bible 160 times. The word love is mentioned 490 times, which is important, obviously. Faith is mentioned 250 times. But do you know listen or the word hear is mentioned 696 times? So it doesn't negate any of those other words. Obviously love is important. Faith is important. Talking to God is important, but hearing and listening is important to God. He wants us to hear what he's saying so that we can then walk out his purpose and his plan for what he has for us. And a lot of people think, well, hearing from God or getting a prophetic word, that's just for preachers or super religious people, but that's not true. Hearing from God is a promise for every believer, every follower of Christ, every disciple. Jesus said in John 10, 27, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I love that. We're his sheep. And he said, I'm going to lead you. I'm going to guide you. So it's important that we realize God is speaking. He is speaking. Some people I've heard, they're like, no, God is not speaking today. No, God is speaking all the time. Why? Because he wants a relationship with us. He wants to commune with us. He wants to walk and talk with us every day. So he is speaking. Romans 8 14 says the children of God are led by the spirit of God. Isaiah 30, 21 says, whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice saying, this is the way walk in it. So if God is speaking and we can ask him to speak to us, ask him, Jeremiah 33, three says, call to me and I will answer you and show you great and marvelous things that you do not know. I want to know things that I don't know. Anybody else? Right? I need to hear from heaven. James 1, 5 through 8 says, If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. But ask in faith without doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. So when we ask God, Lord, I need wisdom. We need asking confidence. Lord, I believe you are speaking. You can speak to me. I do hear your voice because I'm your sheep. I'm your daughter. I'm your child. And your word promises I can be led by the spirit. The children of God are led by his spirit. And then the third thing that we need to have confidence in is that we can hear his voice. Revelation 2, 7 says, he who has ears, let him hear what the spirit of God is saying. So we have to take time to listen. And I thought about how it's so vital. Why is it so important that we hear from God? Because the key to discerning our purpose is found in hearing and obeying his voice. The key to discovering our purpose and all of us want to know our purpose. I don't know about you. I want to know, I want to be walking in my purpose. I want to fulfill everything God's called me to fulfill. And the key is found in our daily walk with him, that communion, hearing and, uh, listening and obeying his voice. So how do we hear from God practically? I'm going to talk about four ways that God speaks. The first way that God speaks is through his word. Now this is going to sound simple, but I'm telling you, this word is alive. It is powerful. Psalms 119, 105 says, your word is a lamp. And I know it's not dark in here, but your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. When we feel like we're in a dark place, we don't know what to do. His word is our beacon. His word is our lighthouse. Amen. So his word is our light. John 1, 1, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. Amen. He is the word. If we want to get to know Jesus, we got to get to know his word. Amen. He's the word. He said, I am the word. I'm the word made flesh. I love that. It makes me love the word. I don't know about you, but when I hear that, I think I love the word because you are the word Jesus. And I want to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. And when we get into the word, we're, He will make it come alive to us if we ask him. You know, when I began to first really seek after the Lord for myself and find that personal relationship with God, I was 14 years old and I began to get into the word and I said, Jesus, make this word come alive to me. I want to hear you through this scripture. And he did. I mean, I would be getting up, you know, before school and all of a sudden I would be reading and something would stand out. How many of you have experienced that before where something just was like, wow, that's for me. And so the word is him speaking to us in the word. We find out his character. We find out his ways. That's why, that's why we have Bible studies. That's why, you know, because it's helping us to get to know his character, his love for us, his ways. And the other thing I think about the word is how that it's like food for our spirit. Matthew four, four says the word man can't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. My little girl, she, um, she just got through the teething stage and, um, do you have a teether right now? You have a little boy that's teething Jess, right? So teething is not fun, right? So we got her this little taco teether so she could gnaw on it when her gums were hurting, you know? So she's happy, you know, and she's chewing on her teether. Finally, you know, though, after an hour or two, she, she doesn't want just a teether. She wants food. Why? Because she begins to get hungry and a teether doesn't satisfy. It is fake. It's not the real thing. And she wants milk. She wants food. Now we're into solids. She's got all of her teeth now, so she doesn't need this. But I thought about how we can feed on a lot of things, just like that teether. We can feed on TV and media and entertainment and you know, everything, the news, whatever it is, none of those are bad. I'm not saying any of that is bad, but I'm saying it's kind of like a teether. It satisfies for a little bit, but it doesn't really nourish our souls. It doesn't really feed our souls or help us to be strong spiritually. Amen. That's why we need the real thing. We don't need the fake thing. We need the real thing. When we're hungry spiritually, only he can satisfy us. Only he can fulfill the void in our heart. Only his presence, only his word can fill that void. So when we crave his word, We begin to grow. First Peter 2, to desire the word of God, just like a newborn baby craves milk so that you can grow. Amen. So the word of God is one way that the Lord begins to teach us. He begins to speak to us. The second way the Lord speaks to us is by his spirit. That still small voice of God in our spirit. John 16, 13 says, when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth and, And he will show you things to come. I love that. He will show you things to come. So how do we recognize that still small voice? Well, I think about how when I call my husband, he doesn't have to tell me his name. Right? If you call your best friend or your spouse, they don't have to introduce themselves. When you hear hello and you hear their voice, you know them, right? Why? Because you're intimate with them. You've spent time with them, right? Time equals relationship. So when we spend time with him, in his word, then the Holy Spirit, while we're going about our day, can then begin to speak to us, and we know it's him, because we know his character, and we know his ways. Amen? So the Holy Spirit begins to speak to us. We begin to recognize it. And then you can grow in that confidence. That's the Lord because it lines up with scripture. Anything that the Holy Spirit speaks, it's going to be confirmed with scripture. And so we learn to hear his voice as we tune in to what the spirit is saying. I also, whenever I'm, you know, driving or whatever, sometimes it's in worship. When I begin to just hear what the Lord is saying, how many of you get that in times of worship where the Lord just begins to download things to you, speak to you. Sometimes when I'm just driving in the car and I'll just start praying in the spirit and all of a sudden the Lord will speak something to me. He'll give me clarity on a top on something I've been praying about. Why it's happens in that time of communion and the Holy spirit speaks. I think about one pivotal moment when the Lord really spoke to me was I was in worship and I was just lost in the moment and the Lord speaks to my heart. And he says, not audibly, it was just to, in my spirit, I knew it was him because of time spent. And he said, Sarah, would you be willing to move to the mission field for the next season of your life? I was like, what, what? And I was like, Lord, I'm eight months pregnant. This is when I was pregnant with Lizzie. And I have a three-year-old at home. And I don't know, Lord. I know we're called to do missions, but I didn't foresee us moving there right now. And the Lord just begins to speak to me. And I said, Lord, do you realize that I'm pregnant? I know you're pregnant, Sarah. And we had just seen breakthrough in the ministry that we had been leading at the time. We had started a young adult group at our church, and it had grown over the five years that we had started it. And we were seeing hundreds of college students getting saved and baptized. And so we were so excited to see what God was doing. And we were finally seeing breakthrough. Even personally, we had just got a house. We were just like, yes, thank you, Jesus. We got a house. We got a baby on the way. Things seemed good. I'm like, Lord, are you sure you want us to leave the good? And the Lord speaks to me and he says, if you don't step out in this new thing I'm calling you to, then you'll get stagnant in your faith. You won't reach the people I'm calling you to reach and you'll hinder the work you started here. I was like, I don't want to hinder anybody and I don't want to miss the people you're calling me to go to. And I sure don't want to get stagnant in my faith. So I said, okay, Lord, I don't know what it looks like. I don't even know where, but I will go wherever you want me to go. So it wasn't a foreign thing. We were doing a lot of short term trips. So it wasn't like out of the blue that the Lord was speaking this, but it was a new thing. I went home that night. Kayla was like, what did God tell you? I said, I don't want to tell him, tell you what God told me. I really don't want to tell you. Why don't you tell me what God told me? Because I had prayed. I was like, Lord, if this is from you, please tell my husband. I don't want to be the Holy Spirit to him. If you can speak to me, you can speak to my husband. Amen. That's a good lesson for us wives. So I was like, please speak to my husband. And he said, no, Sarah, God told you something. Please tell me what he told you. I was like, uh, I think this is the Lord. So I reluctantly told him and he starts crying and he doesn't cry. My husband is not a crier. In fact, it's rare that I ever see him cry. He's not emotional. And he was like, God already told me. And God told me the same sentence. Would you be willing to go to the mission field for the next season of your life? And he said, God told me where? And I was like, Oh Jesus, this is getting real. He had just been in, uh, he was doing a setting up a crusade for my dad in Cambodia. He had just been in Cambodia and he had been traveling through Hong Kong when the Lord spoke to him. He said, we're supposed to go to Southeast Asia. We're supposed to base in Hong Kong. We're supposed to work in that region. Um. I was like, Oh Jesus, help us. So then we had to obviously continue to pray, get good spiritual counsel, and then start taking those steps of faith. But as we did, supernatural things began to happen. It wasn't painless. We did have challenges, but it was supernatural. What God did is we took those steps of faith and then we began to see God move in supernatural ways. And what God did was miraculous in the projects that were able to be started. But it happened in that moment of worship. It happened in a moment where I just had to tune out distractions. And God did amazing things. He's still doing amazing things because we keep going back. We're going back to the same church that we helped start there and helping that church with some new things that they're doing there in Hong Kong today. But I share that because on the other side of our hearing from God, there are people. It's not just about us fulfilling our own purpose. It's about people that will touch by being obedient to what God says. And obviously not everybody's supposed to go to the mission field. But there are divine ideas that the Lord will give you. There are things that the Holy Spirit will speak to you, creative ideas, people that you're to touch in your workplace, in your neighborhood, even in your family, things that you're to do. And as you're obedient, there's people on the other side. There's always people on the other side of our obedience. So we tune into his voice. We let God speak to us in that secret place. Write it down. Whenever the Lord speaks to you, write it down. Write it down and then ask him, Lord, how do I act on this? How do I take steps of faith towards what you're telling me? These things that you're speaking to my heart. What are my steps to be? The third way that God speaks to us is he speaks through his people, believers that are submitted to him. Hebrews 1.1 says on many past occasions, God spoke through the prophets and God is speaking through prophets today. Amen. So it could be, God may speak to you through a sermon, through a trusted individual, through a word of prophecy, but I, I, I want to encourage you. Any word of prophecy should always line up with his word. His word is our final authority. And whenever I get a word, maybe from somebody, I always go back to, Lord, where is this in Scripture? Help me to go back to Scripture, because that will always confirm that it's God. And many times, if you get a word... I found that when you get a word, it should always be a confirmation of something that God has already been speaking to you. Amen. It shouldn't just be like completely off the wall. Like, uh, no, I never thought of that. And I don't have any desire for that. Right. Because then, you know, I don't think that's the Lord leading me. Okay. So if it's a word from somebody, it should confirm something that the Lord has already been stirring in you. And it should produce peace. Colossians 3 says, let peace be the umpire of your heart. Calling the shots. What does an umpire do? It says what's in and what's out. Amen. So peace is our umpire. And the fourth way that the Lord speaks is through dreams and visions. Dreams and visions, Acts 2.17. It says, in the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. God uses visions and dreams. And sometimes people see pictures, like in the spirit as they're praying. God uses those things to give us a picture of what's ahead. Give us an image or a picture of what he's speaking to us. In the Bible, we read about... People who had visions, people like Joseph, Daniel, Ezekiel, John, Paul, the apostle Paul. If you haven't gotten a vision or a dream, don't feel bad. It's okay. This is just one of the ways, the many ways that the Lord speaks. How many of you have had a dream or a vision? Anybody here? Like that's one of the ways that the Lord speaks to you? It's for me, it's one of the primary ways that the Lord speaks to me is through visions and dreams. And, um, I remember the first time I had a vision was when I was 11 years old, you know, God can speak to kids. He can speak to your children. And so I was in a worship service in children's church. And our children's pastors, they knew the presence of God. Miss Pam was actually in our children's ministry years ago. And she was my drama teacher. And, uh, I remember like we, we didn't have a junior Holy spirit. Like we have the Holy spirit as kids. Amen. So these, this children's service, we would get in the presence of God. And I remember we were singing that old song, uh, holy, holy, holy Lord. You guys remember that one? God of power and might. And, uh, And the presence of God filled that room. Kids were on their faces. Kids were crying out before the Lord. And the Lord showed me in that song, show me an open vision. And I was standing in a room with Jesus right in my, to my right. And all of a sudden in front of me, I saw pictures of children, pictures of children that were in other countries that were alone, that were abandoned. that were near dirty water, that were thirsty, that were hungry, their bellies were swollen. And I started crying. I said, Jesus, why are you showing me this? Please stop. He said, because these are the kids I've called you to reach. And I said, but God, I'm a kid. And the Lord reminded me of the scripture I had learned. Jeremiah 1.5, don't say you're just a youth, for you'll go wherever I send you. So I said, okay, Lord, I will go. I went home that night. I told my dad I was 11. I said, dad, I'm going to the mission field. I'm 11. And I'm going. I don't know how, but I'm going to the mission field. He was like, okay, great. I believe you will. But start here and start now. I was like, what do you mean? I said, start now. We're doing local outreaches to children that are in need in our community. Start now. I was like, okay. So that's how I started getting involved in helping children. And then we started going on mission trips. And then when we moved there, the Lord reawakened that dream. And now, you know, over these past 14 years, we have 34 children's rescue homes, right? throughout Southeast Asia and hundreds of water well projects and feeding programs now taking place in these different areas. But it started at 11. And the reason I share that is because sometimes God gives you a word that doesn't happen automatically, that takes time. Habakkuk 2.2 says, write the vision, make it plain so that you can run with it. And though it tarry, wait for it, for it will surely come. So there are things that the Lord maybe has spoken to you as young women, maybe as a child that you haven't yet seen the fulfillment of. And I want to encourage you, don't give up. Don't give up on those dreams and those visions and those things that the Lord has put in your heart. In fact, stir them up, begin to pray about them. Lord, what are steps that I can take? How, how are you going to bring this to pass? Holy spirit, show me. And the Lord will begin to give you steps and wisdom. And obviously, again, my examples are not your examples. So don't think I'm trying to put my examples on you. I'm saying in your own life, there are dreams, there are visions, there are divine ideas that God wants to give you for your business, for your family, for your children that you We have to begin to call forth. We have to pray forth. And then we have to take steps of faith towards those things. Amen. So God speaks through his word. He speaks by his spirit. That still small voice in our spirit. He speaks through his people that are submitted to him. And he speaks through dreams and visions. And why is it so vital that we hear from him? Because there are natural and there are eternal rewards that are connected to us hearing and obeying his voice. And I think about how God can supernaturally provide in ways that maybe we couldn't do in the natural. Amen? But when we tune in and hear his voice... I want to pray for us today because I believe that the Holy Spirit, he wants to download some things to you, even during this prayer time. That as you're taking this time, that the Lord is going to speak new things to you. He's going to reawaken dreams and visions. And maybe you say, you know, I don't even have clarity on my purpose. The Holy Spirit wants to reveal that, your purpose, your next steps to you. I believe even tonight. How many of you could believe for that? You say, I need some clarity. I need some direction in areas. Um, one thought I was thinking about how sometimes we can be doing one thing in one season and it's a good thing, but then God shifts our focus and says, I want you to step out and do this other thing. Anybody ever experienced that before? And one example of that in scripture is in Acts chapter eight, 26, where God spoke to Philip. Philip was doing a good thing. He was evangelizing and God says, arise and go to the desert. And he's like, okay. So he arose and he went, he didn't give him any other instructions. He just shows up in the desert. He was doing a good thing. And God says, arise and go to the desert. He shows up in the desert. He meets an Ethiopian eunuch riding a chariot. Can you imagine? This Ethiopian was reading the book of Isaiah and he didn't understand it. And Philip said, do you know what you're reading? He's like, no. Can you explain this to me? So he explained to him the scripture, led him to Christ, baptized him, and And when you read history, history records the first church in all of Africa was started in Ethiopia. And some historians say it could have been started from that Ethiopian eunuch. What I'm saying is sometimes the Lord will give us instructions that don't make sense always. But when we're obedient, there are people on the other side that are impacted. There are women that you might say, you know what? I really feel like I'm supposed to text them. I'm supposed to reach out to them. And you never know the impact it could have in their life and what impact they will have in other people's lives. Amen. See, there's a ripple effect to our obedience, to just tuning in, in hearing his voice. And I want to build your confidence that God is speaking. You can hear his voice. If we just ask him, he will begin to lead us. He will guide us. If we'll take time to tune in to what he's saying, amen.