Some years ago, while an undergraduate student of the University of Lagos, I was close to being a radio addict. Beat FM and Cool FM were my favourite radio stations. I knew which radio program followed which, and I always had my earphones plugged to my ears as I sauntered on the lecture hallway, so I wouldn’t miss out on some of the programmes I enjoyed listening to.
Because of my love for these two radio stations I had mastered their frequency. I didn’t have to browse online to check or confirm. I was a frequent listener, so I already knew their frequency. Beat FM was and still is 99.9FM and Cool FM was and still is 96.9FM. Many times, I only had to turn on my radio device which was on my phone, and I’m already tuned in to one of the radio stations. Because I spent more time on either of these two stations, I didn’t struggle tuning to them. And because of this, I always had a smooth listening experience.
One of the greatest struggles of many Christians is knowing how to hear God. They understand correctly that a secret to success in life is hearing God and doing what you hear, but they battle with the issue of exactly what it means to have heard God and how to go about it.
Scripture records in 1 Corinthians 14:10a;
“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world.”
This is perhaps one of the major reasons why many struggle to hear God clearly. There are too many voices in their lives. Voices of family members, voices of friends, voices of colleagues, voices on social media, voices on TV, voices in books and novels, etc. Too many voices choke the voice of God in the lives of people.
If we will hear God’s voice on the issues of our lives, we must learn to shut off other voices and seek to hear God’s voice alone. This does not mean we don’t receive wise counsel from people we love and respect. But God’s voice should have the final say. So, how do you then hear God’s voice after you’ve quieted other voices? You have to tune into God’s frequency.
You see, just like radio stations, God has a frequency, and only those who tune into this frequency hear him. This frequency is your heart. Your heart is the frequency of God.
Jeremiah 29:13 tells us;
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Proverbs 20:27 supports this by saying,
“The spirit (heart) of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.”
A distracted heart cannot tune in to God’s channel. A busy heart will struggle to hear God. A heart that is not in right standing with God will hear something else. A heart that is impure, unholy, envious, jealous, bitter, arrogant and wayward will hear wrongly. This has been the misadventure of many hearts that are not entrenched in love. They hear things and run with it, thinking they had heard God, only to be disappointed some months or years down the line.
If you want to hear God, get in tune; if you want to hear God, fix your heart. Remove distractions. Spend time with your Maker. God is not hard to find. He is closer than you think, and wants you to hear Him, more than you want to hear Him.
Many people are just one instruction away from a major breakthrough, but their heart is not in tune to hear this instruction. In the kingdom, the quality of your heart literally determines the quality of your life. Joseph did not allow bitterness to corrupt his heart even when he was in jail. That’s why he never stopped hearing God until He became Prime Minister. Fulfilling destiny is tied to hearing God.
The beautiful thing is that, the more you hear God, the more you are familiar with how to hear God. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” — John 10:27. This is because your heart is now tuned, just like when I always had my radio device tuned in to a particular station. I didn’t struggle to tune in.
But have you observed that the moment you get into anger, an unconfessed sin, offence, bitterness and the likes, the more out of tune you become. It is almost like tuning to 99.8 instead of 99.9. You’ll hear some words, but most of it will be static. You have to tune in rightly by cleansing your heart and getting back in tune, and boom!! It’s a flow of clear, crisp words.
Beloved Saints, as you proceed this week, guard your heart with all diligence. Scripture tells us this is important because from your heart are issues of life. Put another way, your heart is the frequency to God’s radio.
Do have a God-sized week!
Peace Bamidele
@askpeace_